DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES. 
377 
of mine in The Veterinarian, 1 confessed my entire ignorance 
of the diseases of cattle, as my whole life, from the age of fifteen 
to the present period, thirty-two, has been alone devoted to the 
disease of the horse , which I have ample reason to regret; and I 
doubt not such will be the case with many others who purpose 
establishing themselves in country practice, unless they make 
the diseases of other domesticated animals their objects of study 
at a proper time. 
A friend of mine, about two months since, had a cow r labour¬ 
ing under the effects of hoove . The distention of the abdomen 
was very considerable: he sent for a person professing that 
branch of the veterinary art called a cow doctor. At six o'clock 
p.M. bleeding was resorted to, without the desired effect: at seven 
the cow w as throw n on her off side, when he commenced making 
a longitudinal incision on her near side, between the last rib and 
hip , by which a large quantity of gaseous fluid w as extricated. 
He then introduced his hand through the orifice into the alimen¬ 
tary canal, and dragged therefrom, my informant states (w hose 
veracity I can rely on), about two or three stable buckets full of 
food. This operation lasted an hour . After w ards an adhesive 
plaister of some kind was placed over the external orifice, 
t hree hours subsequent to this the cow r died. 
I cannot resist the inclination to give you a proof (if any be 
wanting) of the march of veterinary erudition in some places. 
The following is the verbatim copy of a note sent by another 
cattle practitioner to a friend of mine, a respectable druggist:— 
“ Mr B— sir plest to send me a drinsh by the barer for a 
bullock that hath coughd a child. 11 
A sad expensive complaint, you will admit it must be, for bul¬ 
locks to cough children as a substitute for catching a chill. 
I am, Gentlemen, 
\ our most obedient servant, 
J. Roberts, 
Y.S. to the N. Devon Yeomanry Cavalry. 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES 
AT THE TERMINATION OF THE FIRST COURSE OF 
MR. YOUATT S VETERINARY LECTURES. 
By W. Y. 
A brief narrative of the close of my first course of lectures at 
the University of London may not be uninteresting to veterinary 
students, or even to practitioners, and to me the record is most 
gratifying. t v 
VOL. iv. 3 F 
