ItOYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 
221 
tions of the first, second, and third class, to such pupils as 
should be the authors of the best essay on a selected subject 
of veterinary medicine. The subject chosen for the com¬ 
petition was, “The Eye of the Horse; embracing its ana¬ 
tomy and physiology, the laws of light appertaining to 
vision, the chemical composition of the humours, and the 
pathology, treatment, and results of the disease known by 
the name of constitutional ophthalmia.” 
The conditions were—1st. That the essayists should write 
within the College, and that the time be limited to three 
hours a dav, for six consecutive davs. 2d. That their 
papers should be in the custody of the Demonstrator of 
Anatomy. 3d. That no reference to books would be al¬ 
lowed. 4th. That each paper should be superscribed with a 
motto, and be accompanied by a sealed envelope bearing the 
same motto, and containing also the name of the writer. 
The successful essayists were: Mr. Francis Talbot Sharp, 
Nottingham, Silver Medal; Mr. George A. Oliphant, Marsh- 
wood, Southampton, Bronze Medal; Mr. William Barker 
Walters, Birmingham, Certificate of Merit. 
Although an important malady affecting the horse was 
thus first chosen, such being in accordance with the wish of 
the donor, it is the intention of the Governors in future years 
to select in turn a subject in connexion with the pathology 
of cattle, sheep, and other domesticated animals; as also 
upon chemistry and materia medica. 
Communications and Cases. —It is a source of much 
gratification to find that an increased number of communi¬ 
cations, seeking advice for the management and treatment of 
diseased animals, has been received from the members of the 
Society, and also that a great many morbid specimens have been 
forwarded from different parts of the country, thus affording 
increased facilities for the students to become practically ac¬ 
quainted with cattle pathology, at the same time that the 
principles of the science are being expounded to them in the 
lecture-room. The benefit wdiich must result from the con¬ 
tinuous adoption of this plan cannot be too highly estimated, 
as it is an assurance to the agriculturist that those pupils 
who daily enter on the practice of their profession, as gra¬ 
duates of the College, are equally well informed on the nature 
and treatment of the diseases of cattle and sheep as they are 
of those of the horse. The Governors have long seen the 
advantages resulting from this co-operation on the part of 
the members of the Society, and which they view as second 
only in importance to their obtaining the personal attendance 
of the Professor of Cattle Pathology on cases of disease which 
may assume a more urgent type. Hence in former reports 
xxxiv. 16 
