EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
669 
We will not say that he is petted like a lap-dog or fondled 
like a kitten. He is treated far better. He receives almost 
the same amount of attention as a human being. His food 
is ample and nourishing, his stable is warm and comfortable, 
his coat is for the most part kept clean, bright, and glossy 
by vigorous brushing and continual ablutions. And then 
with what affection he is regarded by his owner ! Here and 
there we meet with a coarse and cruel ruffian, who so far 
surrenders himself to stupid rage and unreasoning viciousness 
as to torture with unmerited chastisement the patient and 
laborious quadruped that does his bidding; but such exam¬ 
ples occur rarely now, and, thanks to the watchful action of 
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, are 
every day becoming less frequent. It is scarcely an exag¬ 
geration to say that he who owns a horse treats it with kindness 
and consideration. Not merely in the training stables of 
.Epsom or Newmarket do we notice this, but in the omnibus 
yards of London, on the metropolitan cab-stands, and even 
in the humble ecuries of the street salesman and wandering 
costermonger. There are, no doubt, prudential and econo¬ 
mical motives at work to explain this circumstance, for 
horses, like American slaves, are too costly to be systemati¬ 
cally ill-treated, or continuously forced to perform more 
labour than their strength is capable of. But still there is 
a general sentiment of affection—nay, almost of respect 
among men for the most useful of domestic animals, which, 
perhaps, has a greater influence in rendering their position, 
comparatively speaking, a favoured one. The horse shares, 
indeed, with the dog the general esteem of the community 
for his intelligence, his docility, his spirit; but he is even 
more valued than the latter for his vast utility and adapt¬ 
ability to so many purposes, whether for war or for sport, for 
fashionable display or for useful everyday labour. 
“ But even if a stronger point of resemblance between the 
treatment of the horse and that of our own species be needed, 
it is to be found in the efforts made by science for the cure of 
those diseases to which the noble beast is subject. Until the 
close of the last century equine maladies were little under¬ 
stood, and no adequate means were taken to comprehend 
them or to find remedies for them. When a horse fell ill, it 
was handed over to the bungling treatment of an ignorant 
stableman, or to the dangerous prescriptions of some quack 
still more ignorant. But agricultural attention was at length 
roused to the subject, and in 1791 the Royal Veterinary 
College started into existence. This institution has gone on 
steadily improving year by year, widening the sphere of its 
