308

it rarely remained in one part more thanthree or four days, so it seldom remainedmore than a week or ten days in the system.Of course there were exceptions to thisgeneral rule. Passive and palliative treat-ment, then, in the majority of cases, wassuch as he should recommend. The exhi-bition of mild purgatives, the introduction ofcool air, sponging the body with cold water,and, when there was throbbing of the arteriesnear the brain, a moderate abstraction of

blood, formed the palliative treatment heshould employ. Dr. Clutterbuck then re-ferred to the various modes, which are so

well known, to be employed in the treatmentof erysipelas.A discussion of some length followed on

the treatment of erysipelas, eliciting a greatvariety of opinions.

ANNIVERSARY MEETINGOF THE

VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSO-CIATION.

THE eighth anniversary of the VeterinaryMedical Association was celebrated on

Monday evening, Nov. 13, at the Free-masons’ Tavern, at the close of the day inthe course of which the opening lecture wasdelivered at the Veterinary College. Thechair was occupied by the president of theassociation, Charles Spooner, Esq. ; and aretrospective address was read by the secre-tary, Mr. W. J. T. Morton, succeeded bythe distribution of medals and honorary cer-tificates for successful prize essays. The

large silver medal of the association wasawarded to Mr. PEARSON B. FERGUSON foran essay on the anatomy of the eye of thehorse ; and the thanks of the association,with its certificate, were presented to JamesTurner, Esq., of Regent-street, and to J.Climenson, Esq.The prize subject for practitioners for the

ensuing year is, the description of " Theminute anatomy of the several tissues whichform the connecting medium between thecoffin-bone and the crest-their elasticity orreon-elasticity to be especially considered ;together with the varied movements resultingfrom that bond of union, in the foot of asound adult horse, both at his work and dur-ing rest in the stable, under all circumstancesof sustaining the superincumbent weight, andotherwise."The subject for the prize thesis for stu-

dents is "The anatomy and physiology ofthe fauces, and of the organs of voice anddeglutition."The oration was then delivered by Mr.

William Field, of Oxford-street. We sub-join a passage from it, relating to the gene-ral education of veterinary students:-" I now approach a portion of my ad-

dress in which I would wish, with every

feeling of diffidence, to intimate to thelearned professors at the Veterinary Collegea defect which I believe still exists in thatestablishment,—I allude to the facility withwhich pupils are admitted in the first in-stance. If any young man present himselffor admission, no matter how ignorant hemay be ; if he have never looked into aLatin grammar, and if he be a perfect stran-ger to the French tongue ; if his acquaint-ance with mathematics and with Englishliterature in general be on an exact par withhis knowledge of languages ; in fact, if hiseducation have been altogether neglected,and he be in all respects as unfit a candidatefor a liberal profession as can be well ima-gined,-the doors of the college are, not-

withstanding, opened wide to receive him,and he is, without a question asked, at onceadmitted as a pupil. Now this I mustregard as a sad oversight. It is a practicethat does not hold in the medical profession,and it is provided against by the laws of thePharmaceutical Society just established.Why should it be maintained in ours, moreespecially as we pride ourselves in beingconsidered on a level with our brother pro-fessors and practitioners in human medicine,a position we cannot expect to preserve inthese enlightened times, if we disregard theimmense importance and advantages ofgeneral education as a means of enhancingthe character of the veterinarian, and of up-holding him in his acknowledged sphere ofsociety. In the army his rank is wellknown. In London the enlightened veteri-nary surgeon is on an equality with the pro-fessors of other liberal arts. In countrytowns and large villages you find him thecompanion of the clergyman, the surgeon,the lawyer, and not unfrequently the guestof the gentry in his own immediate neigh-bourhood. Such was not the case in thosedark ages to which I have already alluded,during the interregnum-so to speak-of theveterinary art, when the patient was handedover to the tender mercies of the ignorantempiric, who possessed, as a matter ofcourse, impudence and presumption in abun-dance, but not one-half of the intelligenceof the animal for which he was called uponto prescribe, and which was thus left to thechapter of accidents to recover or other-wise, as chance might direct."

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

i ENORMOUS BIRDS. CHARCOAL AND FLINT.’ Nov.28.-This society met for the firsttime in its new rooms, Hanover-square,’this evening, Mr. YARRELL in the chair,when Professor OwEN read a paper on thenew genus of extinct birds, Dinorius. Aboutthree years ago a ferrur of an immense birdwas sent from New Zealand to this country,-and Professor Owen at that time stated his