THE HORSES OF THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. 
903 
ance of which is now so generally recognised, both in the 
service and by the public generally. In the letter in which 
he calls my attention to the above-mentioned article, he says 
(for I cannot do more, nor yet better, than quote what he has to 
urge in favour of Veterinary Army Statistics) : “ It is nearly 
forty years since the importance of statistical information 
relating to the army was urged in the same journal by the 
late Colonel Sir A. Tullock and Dr. Henry Marshall ; and 
much of the success of the scheme may, I think, be fairly 
attributed to the persistency with which the subject was 
pressed on the notice of the combatant portion of the pro¬ 
fession by the United Servive Magazine , at a time when 
statistics generally were held to he a fair subject for the small 
wittlings of the general press. I, of course, have no know¬ 
ledge of the subject ; but during a good many years of 
Colonial service—seven of them on the Cape frontier and 
in Natal, I was often painfully impressed with the waste of 
animal life and public money which appeared to be accepted 
by the combatant portion of the officers generally—many of 
them of far greater experience than myself—as unavoidable 
and of trifling moment. ... I cannot help thinking that in 
many places, in India more especially, statistical information 
would point very clearly to ways of combining increased 
economy of life and money, with increased efficiency in the 
mounted branches of the army.” 
In addition to calling attention to this extract, I can now 
refer to the perhaps more direct manner in which he alludes 
to this matter in the course of his paper, which is headed 
“Prussian Army Horses, 1845-70; with some Observations 
upon Veterinary Statistics.” 
The article contains so much that possesses the highest 
interest for the army veterinary surgeon, that an apology for 
inserting it in our professional journal seems scarcely war¬ 
ranted, At any rate, as we have no army veterinary periodical 
like our Continental colleagues, there is no other channel open 
to us for the ventilation and discussion of such subjects, which, 
in many respects, are thoroughly professional, and have the 
additional claim of being of national importance. 
For the account of the horses of the German army during 
the period immediately antecedent to the outbreak of the late 
war, reference has been chiefly made to a little work entitled 
Die Remontirung der Preussischen Armee ,* published at 
Berlin about twelve months ago, and which contains most 
interesting information regarding the measures adopted by the 
* c Die Remontirung der Rreussischen Armee/ von C. 0. Mentzel, Re- 
monte Depot-Directeur. 
