682 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
HUMANE SOCIETY IN TRANCE. 
To the Editor of c The Times. 3 
Sir, —The attention of the public ought to be again called to the atro¬ 
cious acts of cruelty which are now being weekly perpetrated in the veteri¬ 
nary colleges of Prance, and its assistance requested in framing some plan 
for inducing the Trench authorities to consider the subject. 
On the 8th instant, Prolessor Spooner delivered an address to the Royal 
Veterinary College, from which L take the liberty of sending an extract : 
“The facts are these:—At Alfcrt, which 1 visited, and still more at 
Lyons, the pupils are instructed in surgery by cutting up living horses. 
Oh ! then is surgery fiendhood ! Two days a week, at nine o’clock in the 
morning, the doomed horse is cast, and then he is subjected to all sorts of 
surgical operations, such as firing, neurotomy, cutting away pieces of the 
cartilage of the foot, operating as for stone in the bladder, extirpating the 
parotid and other glands, or the eyes, or any organs that forceps can pull, 
or that knives or saws can reach. Steel and fingers, guided by stony hearts, 
invade the poor animal at all points; these operations on the same horse 
last from nine o’clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, unless, 
indeed, lie becomes unfit for the diabolicism by dying in the meantime.” 
Comment is superfluous. It is well known that vivisection has long been con¬ 
sidered unnecessary to the successful cultivation of the veterinary art, and is 
repudiated with horror by our English surgeons. The Society for the Pre¬ 
vention of Cruelty to Animals have made a vain effort to induce the Trench 
colleges to abolish these proceedings, and my only hope now, in addressing 
you, is that, by constantly keeping the subject before the public eye, the 
higher powers in Trance may be brought to exert themselves in behalf of 
these helpless sufferers. 
The Emperor himself reads The Times and, from his well-known love 
of the horse, may feel interested in saving the old and worn-out relics of 
that faithful race from a fate horrible to contemplate, and most disgraceful 
to a Christian iand. 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
October 11th. H. I). E. 
HORSE-TORTURE IN TRANCE. 
To the Editor of ‘ The Times 3 
Sir,—R eferring to the subject of “ H. E. D’s ” letter in The Times of 
Saturday, I am sorry to be able to confirm the accuracy of the statements 
quoted from Professor Spooner’s lecture, in allusion to what he has most 
aptly designated the “fiendish” practices carried on at the veterinary 
school at Alfort. 
Being recently in Trance, I visited this celebrated institution, in conse¬ 
quence of my having been requested by the Secretary of the Society for 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to report from personal observations as 
to the horrible cruelties said to be so extensively and systematically prac¬ 
tised at Alfort. 
At the period of my visit it was the vacation; consequently, experi¬ 
mental operative surgery was not being practised so regularly as during the 
session, but, as I was there when the veterinary surgeons attended, and 
operated if necessary, there were present a considerable number of advanced 
students or assistants (dressers ?), very intelligent, well-informed young men, 
with several of whom I had long conversations, and they unhesitatingly 
