216 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 
although our Sheriffs have issued proclamations of the most 
stringent kind regarding the sale of diseased animals, especially 
those affected with pleuro-pneumonia, yet here is a case in 
which, had it come before Sheriff Watson for a decision, and 
had he acted on the same principle as he did in deciding Smith’s 
case, without hearing the evidence, he would have run in the 
teeth not only of fact and law, but of his own special proclama¬ 
tion ;—so much for trusting the decision of cases to men ignorant 
of the nature of the thing to be decided, and who will not be 
taught in evidence hy those able to inform them. 
We have no doubt, from the high character which Sheriff 
Watson bears for his love of justice, that in giving expression 
to the views he does in his note, he erred from ignorance : 
were he conversant with the subject, he might, perhaps, find that 
“country veterinary surgeons” were capable of “ rendering a 
reason” in support of their expressed opinions when called for; 
and he might also find that there are many latent diseases in 
animals that remain much longer hidden from external observa¬ 
tion than he thinks consistent with “common sense,” but 
which can yet be demonstrated to be in existence if looked for. 
We wish we could speak with equal lenity of the note given 
with his decision by Sheriff Davidson ; but to do it justice we 
must defer its publication and consideration to a future number. 
I am, yours, &c., 
C. 
THE PRESENT CONDITION OF VETERINARY MEDICINE 
IN ITS RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. 
COMMENSURATE with the moral and social advancement of 
a people, will be the estimation in which animals, the instru¬ 
ments of pleasure or profit, are held. 
The records of the past and present demonstrate that a total 
disregard for the feelings of the brute creation is compatible 
with a high state of civilization; but there is nothing to lead to 
the assumption, that cruelty can ever be a characteristic of a 
moral and religious nation. 
In our own day, the spread of true humanity is flattering to 
our national feelings; in no country, perhaps, are the claims of 
the brute to consideration so universally acknowledged, so 
powerfully asserted: setting aside the “cant of sentimentalism,” 
there is in the people a broad recognition of the fact, that 
animals have nerves and organs like their own, that they are 
as keenly sensible of painful impressions. This conviction has 
