PRACTICAL VETERINARY SCIENCE. 
721 
springs up suddenly after rain, is by superstitious persons 
supposed to possess virtue as a vulnerary, and in pains of the 
joints. Oyster green, or ulva lactuca (the jSpvov OaXaaaiov 
of Dioscorides), is sometimes employed in scrofula. The 
ancients used it in inflammations and gouty affections. Its 
taste is so bitter and salt that it is usually given with lemon- 
juice. The confervals found in many thermal springs, mostly 
species of Spharozyga, are used empirically as external appli¬ 
cations to goitre, enlarged glands, &c. Henry has examined 
the confervals in the springs of Vichy, Neris, and Vaux, 
and found small quantities of an alkaline iodide in each.” 
PRACTICAL VETERINARY SCIENCE. 
By A Working Practitioner. 
In the Veterinarian for September, at page 650,1 ventured 
to lay before the profession some thoughts upon the above 
subject, and in my present paper I purpose to examine in 
detail the various principles involved in the question, and 
endeavour as far as possible to draw fair and common sense 
conclusions from them. 
In conducting this inquiry it must be understood that I 
am presuming that the youth, student, or veterinary surgeon, 
spoken of is a person of an average type of intellect, and in 
possession of capacities equal to the generality of mankind. 
We must not forget that there are men who are habitually 
and constitutionally idle, both bodily and mentally, and as 
such they are of little or no use in the veterinary or any 
other profession. Such men of course cannot expect to suc¬ 
ceed. There are other men, well intentioned, who lack 
neither industry, intelligence, nor education, yet some how or 
other they do not get on, and after a short time they give up 
the profession in disgust and embark in another calling, 
assigning as the reason that society could not appreciate their 
talents. It would appear, however, that their acquirements 
are not adapted to the necessities of their calling, for such 
men often seem incapable of looking at plain and natural 
principles. They appear never to be able to take simple and 
clear views of their case; they cannot get into the knack of 
working with nature ; their treatment is uncertain, and the 
result too frequently unsuccessful. Men of this class cannot 
of course succeed. They will lay blame to the want of a 
legal protection of the profession, to the underworking of 
