245

experienced young ’men is collected aroundthis sole preceptor of all the veterinaryyouth of Great Britain, to listen with re-

spect to his experience, and to treasure uphis sayings as wisdom. To these zealous and

unprejudiced pupils we would say,-receivewith caution the opinions which you hear,and do not suppose, because your master hasshown’ you some new and curious truths,that he is therefore on all subjects infalli-ble ; consult other authorities, and judge ofthem. by the standard of truth and reason,not by College rules; remember that thosewhom your teachers stigmatise as men whowould overturn the science, and as enemies

of the College, may, , nevertheless, be

your best friends, (for this distinction

has long been necessary,) and make yourbelief a matter of judgment, not of faith,lest practice should prove its error.

Under these correcting limitations, youmay listen with improvement to the generalfacts detailed in the lectures, but trust yourunderstanding to no man’s keeping. The

order in which the veterinary authors,Lawrence, Bracey Clark, Goodwin, andin particular Percivall, were jumbled to-

gether, in the late introductory discourse,is worth your observing ; read them all,with the addition of the Professor’s quarto,and then judge of the taste and the motiveswhich dictated this indiscriminate and faint

praise of works so different. We shall

steadily pursue our account of, the presentsituation of veterinary science, consider thegeneral difficulties under which it labours,and the local causes which oppose its pro-

gress ; this will necessarily include a com-pendious review of the chief writers on this

subject, and will lead, we sincerely hope, tothe adoption of better and more liberal

views for its improvement.Let it not be said of this important and,

in itself, honourable profession, that ere

it was half a century old, it was sunk in

monopoly, and clothed with prejudice ;that an original wiiter was denied a hearing,

or a refutation or that its teachers boast

as if they had attained the farthest boundsof veterinary science, when in fact theyhave scarcely reached its threshold. Yet,such is unfortunately the fact; and at thethreshold of the science they must, we fear,remain, if not conducted by some other handthan that of Professor Coleman.

MR. FROST, AND THE MUSTARDSEED.

In the Quarterly Journal of Science, Mr.John Frost has taken some trouble to recon-

cile the apparently paradoxical statementmentioned in the New Testament, that a

grain of mustard seed should become a TREE.He has endeavoured to show that the

mustard-tree of Palestine is identical with

a species of the phytolacca,* which has thesmallest seed of any tree, and which is indi-

genous in that country. Moreover, he con-siders that he has found an additional sup-

port for this supposition- in the circum-

stance that, in America, the natives are inthe habit of using the sliced root for the

same purpose, medicinally, as we use

mustard-seed ; viz. that of cataplasm ! ! The

Americans call this shrub phytolacca de-

candra. Now, to be sure, Mr. Frost ac-

knowledges that he is not quite positive re-specting the identity ; indeed, we do not seethat he has made an approach to it. He

might as well say, at once, that it was the

sinapis arrensis, or any other thing, whetherfit to make cataplasms or not. Mr. Frost

should join Mr. Pearson, and discover someof the Mediterranean whales, or some

beings sufficiently analogous, with stomachsof sufficient capacity for another Jonah.

Phytolacea, derived from ⊘&ngr;&tgr;o&ngr;, a plant,and lacca, or lac, a gum resin. The pe-tioles of every species of phytolacca, havea reddish colour.