oxen; nearly 180,000 sheep, and 73,000 swine. Since this report was made these numbers will be found to have been greatly augmented. Now when we take into consideration the vast amount of capital invested in stock, and the yearly importations of well bred animals into this State alone, specimens of which were so abundantly seen at our late highly successful exhibition, and when we consider how considerable a portion of this stock is annually lost by disease, through ignorance and barbarous treatment, can we fail to see how great an interest should be taken in the establishment of true veterinary science by every man in the community! It is needless to suppose that any one may do without thorough education, veterinary medicine requiring as much, if not more preparation for its successful practice than human medicine, "for in the former," as a late number of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal truly says, "the physician is deprived of a most important source of information, both in the detection of symptoms and in the effects of remedies, from the incapacity of the sufferer to describe his own sensations." "Miserable animal, says St. Bel, bereft of speech, thou cans't not complain, when to the disease with which thou art afflicted, excruciating torments are superadded by the ignorant effects of such men, who, at first sight, and without any investigation to lead them to the source of thy disorder, pronounce a hackneyed common place opinion on thy case, and than proceed with all expedition to open thy viens, lacerate thy flesh, cauterise thy sinews, and drench thy stomach with drugs adverse in general to the cure they engage to perform." Vegetius says, "ars veterinaria post medicinam secunda est." There is no reason why the profession should not hold the same rank here as in other countries. The professers at the schools of London and Alfort sustain a high reputation among scientific men, and they have done much to advance the cause of science. To become accomplished in veterinary medicine requires diligent preparation and long study, and so far from its being beneath the notice of an educated and refined man, it is a study worthy of the best and highest talents. But in order to raise the standard of the veterinary art among us, we must have the means of properly instructing those who may desire to embark in the enterprise. Such means can only be furnished by the establishment of colleges, where a regular, thorough, and scientific education may be obtained, altho' it may take years to arrive at the perfection of Alfort or London. We have made a commencement to-day, let it not be the end. No matter upon how humble a scale this school may be commenced, all things must have a beginning, and if there is but one pupil, and he is properly educated, the community is the gainer by it. However, there is no fear for a want of members, if the Institute is once firmly estalished, there will be many who will wish to avail themselves of its advantages, The Veterinary School of Alfort, France, might serve us for a model, for I know of no one where the instruction is more complete or the means of education more thorough. The establishment is beautifully situated near the junction of two rivers, at about six miles from Paris. It possesses a valuable library, a cabinet of comparative Anatomy, and another of Pathology. There are also extensive botanical gardens, hospitals for sick animals, a labratory, pharmacy, lecture and dissecting rooms, forges and buildings, for experiments. Pupils from the north of France are admitted upon the presentation of the Minister of Commerce and Agriculture, either as boarders at 360 francs a year, ($72) or gratutiously. The Minister of War has 40 pupils in the school, destined for veterinary service in the cavalry. They are received from the age of 16 to 25, and the duration of their studies is 4 years. The number of pupils is limited to 300. At the expiration of each term every pupil is thoroughly examined in the studies in which he had been engaged, and if his examination is not satisfactory, he is obliged to re-commence the same studies. In this way the pupils are thoroughly grounded in the elements, and their proficiency in chemistry, botany, and anatomy is really very great. I cannot do better in this connection than to quote a letter rercently addressed to the Editor of the Medical & Surgical Journal: "A correspondent residing in New York State, says, in allusion to a recent article in the Journal, " I am much interested in the Veterinary College. If I were not too old, I should be vastly tempted to take a course of lectures myself. It is a thing sadly wanted in this country, and as each year greatly increases the number of valuable high bred stock, the more necessary does it become. I have been especially struck with this, from being conversant with the ills and casualites of Mr. T.'s valuable herd, where a hundred dollars would be as nothing compared with the loss of an animal, and where a surgeon would find ample employment by the year. High bred animals, like men bred in luxury and indulgence, are far more subject to disease than common and more hardy beasts, and have diseases almost unknown to lower bred animals. My friend S. has a case now, that he would gladly give five hundred, yes, a thousand dollars, if it could be cured. He has written to England, stating it, and they write him back that they never saw a similar one; and that is all the good he gets!" Besides those who will be desirous of preparing themselves for the active duties of the profession, very many will gladly avail themselves of the opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of comparative anatomy. For this purpose, a few months were spent by myself at Alfort, and to that circumstance I owe the honor of addressing you at this time, and that too upon a subject worthy of your firm support. If the remarks which have been offered for your consideration shall serve to awaken a still stronger zeal in the cause of science, and in the advancement of knowledge, than even now exists, my humble exertions will be repaid. May we not truly hope that the 'Boston Veterinary Institute' will soon prove itself worthy of the city which has given it a 'local habitation as well as a name?' AN ESSAY ON DIET. Variety in food necessary- Effects of certain kinds of food- As regards the requisite quantity, &c. It is admitted by medical men, and the experience of our readers may possibly have confirmed the fact, that a great proportion of the diseases occurring among live stock are produced, either directly or indirectly, by errors in diet; consequently the means of prevention are within the reach of every husbandman, and should be used accordingly. No special form of diet, can for any great length of time, preserve the integrity of the animal machine; and in order to substantiate the proposition we shall shew the effect of simple elementary principles on the system of man; considering what is known to be a fact, that the same is true of his servant, the horse. Some of our readers may have heard of the experiment made by Napoleon Bonaparte: which was that of trying to supply the nutritive wants of his system by living on a concentrated preparation of beef; in the form of jelly. He gave it a fair trial, yet came very near starving on the same, and he was led to remark, that the stomach was a sort of scavenger, hence, required a given amount of rubbish to sort from, and select the necessary elements for renovating the tissues. He probably selected jelly because it is highly nutritious, containing more of the flesh-making principle, than most articles of food. It was rich, not only in nitrogen, but also in oxygen, hydrogen and carbon, four of the principal elements which compose the animal fabric. The fact is, no single article of diet, let it be ever so rich in the elements of organized tissues, can long support life. A nation of men subsisting long on a simple form of diet, without variety, would soon become emaciated, and die of innutrition. Let the Grahamites abstain from milk, and live on bread and water, and they would soon exterminate themselves. Milk is a highly nutritious compound and furnishes their systems with the equivalents that we obtain from beef and mutton. The inhabitants of the "Celestial Empire," Chinese are great consumers of rice; it is the principle article of diet among the poorer classes, many of whom are lank and lean, and would make very respectable walking lanterns, (if a candle was placed within their abdominal cavity and lighted,) only they happen to catch occasionally, a stray dog or pig. Such furnish not only a savory meal, but a supply of material for the formation of muscle and fat. Alluding to dogs reminds us of an experiment made by Majendie. He proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, that such animal could not live more than forty days on any single article of diet, let it be ever so nutritious. The staple article of food among Irish peasants in the bogs, is potatoes; those people are subject to diseases of a low typhoid type, and all that saves them from disease, or perhaps premature death, is buttermilk, red-herrings, and occasionally a drop of whiskey. The Scotch peasants are great consumers of oatmeal; this article is not inferior to wheat, in the flesh-making principle, and we might naturally infer, that an article of diet so valuable and palatable, ought to promote health and cater to longevity. This is not the case. The great oatmeal consumers are the notorious subjects of intestinal concretions, and in the Edinburgh Anatomical Museum are to be seen a vast and valuable collection of intestinal calculi, most of which proved death warrants to confirmed oatmeal con sumers. The Poet tells us that: "Variety is the spice of life." A greater truth was never uttered. Diversity is the order of creation, and variety is a sort of medley that corresponds to diversity: "What is one man's food is another's poison." Dr. Carpenter, an eminent Physiologist, says, that "no fact in dietetics is better established than that concerning the impossibility of long sustaining health and life on a single alimentary principle. Neither pure albumen, fibrine, gelatine, gum, sugar, starch, fat, nor oil, taken alone, can serve for the due nutrition of the body. This is partly due to their failing in supplying the waste of the tissues, and partly to the fact that single alimentary substances, long continued, excite such a feeling of disgust, that the animals experimented on seem to prefer the endurance of starvation to the ingestion of the same." Our readers are aware that when a person be long confined to any particular article of diet, a craving for something else is experienced, which very few persons can resist. This teaches us, that in order to preserve the health of live stock we must vary the diet, and are not to be over-particular in selecting the most nutritious articles. But we want, as Napoleon says, a little rubbish — coarse rubbish. The internal surface of the stomach and bowels require to be irritated once in a while, and this probably was the idea which Graham had, when he first recommended coarse food. The stomach must be made to labor hard once in a while, or its function will deteriorate. Persons who complain of weak stomachs and dyspepsia, are those who live on dainty viands, and seldom, if ever, distend that organ to a healthy capacity with coarse material. Consider for a moment the condition of Spanish and Italian peasants, they know nothing of our National disease, dyspepsia. Their bread has the appearance of being composed of sawdust, the very sight of the same would disgust our effeminate stomachs; yet, with the addition of a little oil, wine, and a few vegetables, they can endure greater hardships, and often carry a heavier burthen, with less fatigue, than the advocates of roast beef and fine flour. We may distend the stomach with coarse food, and perhaps not impair its function; but if we overburthen it with fine meal or any other highly nitrogenized article which the digestive apparatus can assimulate very readily, until repletion takes place; then there is danger. The best food for distending the stomach of a horse is sweet hay, cut straw, swedish turnips, carrots, squash, apples and potatoes. As an illustration of what working horses can subsist on, we present the following bill of fare, on which some English farm horses live, and grow fat: 1 1-2 bushel of (good) Oats, 1 3-4 cwt. of cut Straw, 42 lbs. of Swedish Turnips, A week's allowance. Many animals are fed on this kind of diet for thirteen weeks, until the work of Spring commences; then the food becomes more nutritious, in the form of beans and pollard. American horsemen would call this hard fare, small potatoe diet, but nevertheless, some of the English horses consume in the course of 24 hours, 37 pounds of cut straw, and thrive, like jehu, on the same. The stomach must be made to work for a living once in a while; hard work agrees with it; coarse fodder stimulates and developes its latent powers, and augments the gastric secretion, which is the active solvent of the food. - Labor operates on the stomach in the same manner, and in the same ratio, that it does on the brain or muscles increases their capacity. Compare, for example, the brawny arm of the mechanic with that of the counting-house clerk, or the powerful muscles of the truck and farm horse with those of the pet saddle horse; this comes of work, hard work. See the king of birds, the eagle, towering above and beyond the sight and ken of man, darting with almost lightning speed, from mountain to valley-buffeting the rude shocks of Heaven's artillery - he acquires strength of muscle and wing, by extraordinary exertion and desperate feats of flight. After the same fashion we develop the mental faculties, augment, |