The Strand Magazine, Vol. 01, January 1891: An Illustrated MonthlyVarious
General
The Strand Magazine, Vol. 01, January 1891: An Illustrated Monthly
Various
English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
The way pointed out by the conductor was King-street, at the top of
which runs Great College-street, where the great gates of the Hospital
for Animals are facing you. Here, congregated together about the
entrance, are a dozen or twenty students, the majority of them arrayed
in garments of a decidedly "horsey" cut, their appearance suggesting
that they are somewhere about one remove from the medical student
proper, though in full possession of all their traditional love of fun
and irrepressible spirits. For a charge of sixty guineas these young men
may revel in the anatomy of a horse for a period of three years, walk
the straw-carpeted floor of the sick stable, pay periodical visits, and
learn how to prescribe the necessary remedies for the inmates of the
dogs' ward. The secretary, Mr. R. A. N. Powys, assures us that three
hundred students are at present located here, and, together with the
educational staff, numbering, amongst others, such veterinary
authorities as Professors Axe, Penberthy, McQueen, Coghill, and Edwards,
they visit the beds of some fifty horses every day, together with those
of some ten or a dozen dogs, to say nothing of pigs and sheep weakly
inclined, and cows of nervous temperament. During the past twelve months
1,174 horses have been examined for unsoundness. More than four thousand
animals were treated either as in-patients or out-patients during that
period.
[Illustration: THE RESULTS OF SWALLOWING TIN-TACKS.]
Passing through the gateway, a fine open space is immediately in front,
with a roadway laid down for the purpose of testing the soundness of
horses. Just at this moment a fine prancing steed, a typical shire
horse, with his coat as brown as a new chestnut, and his limbs and
quarters as they should be, is led out by a stalwart groom. For all the
animal's 16-1/2 hands, there is a question as to his soundness. A
professor hurries up, followed by a score of students, with notebooks
and pencils ready. The horse is trotted round the gravel-path, then
galloped with a rider bare-back. A thoughtful consultation follows, and
the verdict pronounced upon its respiratory organs is: "As sound as a
bell."
There is an estimable and enterprising gentleman touring the London
streets who is the proprietor of a group of animals which he facetiously
calls "The Happy Family." These are in the flesh, alive and frolicsome;
but here in Camden Town, where all things veterinary are studied, is a
happy family--in the bone. They are gathered together in unison around
the bust of the late Professor Robertson. The "ship of the desert" has
on its left an elephant of formidable size, near which stands an
ostrich. On the camel's right is a cow, and a lion, originally part of a
menagerie in the Edgware-road. A pig is readily recognised, and a fine
dog seems to be looking up to the late Professor as an old friend. This
interesting collection will shortly be added to by all that is left of
the celebrated race-horse "Hermit."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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