782 SYNOPSIS OF CONTINENTAL VETERINARY JOURNALS. 
literature by M. Chenier. Any addition to professional 
literature, however, is welcomed by us as a sign of progress 
and a proof of interest in the profession; and while the 
Journal Pratique adheres to its programme of liberal views, 
independence, and expanded survey, we shall wish it well 
(Williams and Norgate, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, 
are the London agents). We observe in this number the 
paper of M. Salle on C( Typhoid Blood,” and the case of 
extensive sheep poisoning by the arsenical bath, which we 
have recently brought under the notice of our readers. Also, 
we here find Bastian’s article in Nature , bv which a short 
time ago he triumphantly drew attention to certain views 
and observations expressed by Dr. Lewis in his recent work 
on “ Nematode Haematozoa,” which are considered valuable 
supporting evidence of spontaneous generation. cf It is in¬ 
serted as a summary of the principal objections which a 
great number of pathologists in the present day adduce 
against the theory of germs of disease .” The share which 
veterinarians should have in awarding prizes at agricultural 
shows is the subject of a communication by M. Dubourg, 
who says, “ Buffon and his illustrious friend Daubenton, 
and after them Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, allowed that 
no instruction was more capable of enlightening the country 
on the important question of multiplication and improve¬ 
ment of our domesticated animals than that of the veterinary 
schools. Had Daubenton remained for a longer time Pro¬ 
fessor of Rural Economy at the Alfort School he would 
V 
certainly have endowed agriculture with the science of 
zootechny ; but this science dates scarcely from 1838. The 
word zootechny occurs, I believe, for the first time in 
Ampere’s essay on the ‘ Philosophy of Sciences.’ To the 
Count of Gasparin is due the honour of having conceived 
the idea of elevating the rearing of our domesticated animals 
into a science; and Baudement was the first who declared 
that animals were agricultural capital, and their production 
should be one of the applications of physiological knowledge 
(1849). Time and experience have justified the opinions of 
this eminent professor, who was the first occupant of the 
chair of zootechny at the Agricultural Institute of France. 
Previously the characters of different races were based on 
given variable features, such as size, direction of the horns, 
colour, size of hoof, &c., which are all liable to modify 
under the influence of artificial selection and variable sur¬ 
roundings. Now, it is allowed that the true distinctive 
characters must be sought for in the spinal column and 
in the cranium, for the laws of reversion and heredity 
