168 
FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
involved in the disease. From the scratching of the bird, 
acari are dislodged, and if by chance they fall upon the 
horse, or are otherwise conveyed to his skin, they imme¬ 
diately commence their instinctive habits of obtaining food 
by burrowing in the epidermis, and thus become the direct 
cause of transmitting poultry scabies to this animal. MM. 
Reynal and Lanquetin enter into full particulars of the 
indications of the disease as existing in the bird, with a view 
of combating it at its commencement, and thus preventing 
its extension either among the poultry or other animals. 
—See Annales de Medecine Veterinaire , Feb., 1864. 
Diseases of Cattle.—Veterinary Inspectorship. 
—At a meeting of the Town Council of Exeter, held on 
Feb. 10th, a memorial was presented from several farmers, 
praying for the appointment of an inspector to prevent the 
introduction of diseased cattle into the market. The ques¬ 
tion, after some discussion, was referred to a committee. 
Suppression of Horns. —M. Charlier has introduced 
an operation for the suppression of the growth of horns of 
cattle. He says, in the early period of life, when the rudi¬ 
ment of the horn begins to appear, it may be resorted to 
without any danger or expense, as the owner of the animal 
may himself operate. The instrument to be used is a 
kind of trephine—a small cylinder of good steel, having a 
sharp cutting-edge at one end, and a point at the other. 
This instrument is placed around the young horn, bearing 
sufficiently on it to cut through the skin and subjacent 
tissue at the base of the horn, and then everting the soft 
horn, which offers no resistance. The wound heals in a 
few days afterwards, without suppuration, and generally 
without any febrile symptoms. 
[The above operation was advocated at a late meeting of 
the West of Scotland Veterinary Medical Association, by 
Mr. Wilson, of Donne (see page 125), but condemned by 
the president and others as likely to come under the de¬ 
signation of cruelty to animals.] 
Condition of different portions of the Blood- 
corpuscles. —Mr. Lionel Beale says that in man and 
in mammalia there are circular, coloured corpuscles, without 
a nucleus, and the so-called white or colourless corpuscles, 
which are spherical. He believes that the colourless cor¬ 
puscles, and the colourless nuclei of the red corpuscles, con¬ 
sist of matter in a living state, while there are reasons for 
