On exercise

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Without exercise, the body’s ‘juices will thicken, the joints will stiffen, the nerves will relax… and a crazy old age must ensue’.

This less than comforting thought is presented by George Cheyne in his Essay of Health and Long Life, published in 1724.  Although the science in Cheyne’s musings might be considered a little off, I can agree with the sentiment.  Exercise and outdoor pursuits keep our energy and our spirits up.  Even watching other more athletic types exert themselves gives us enjoyment; the Olympic Games never fail to enthral legions of sport-phobes and sport fans alike.

Despite being a veterinary library we do have some volumes that aren’t, at first glance, entirely animal related – one example is The Annals of Sporting and Fancy Gazette, a magazine which ‘contains every Thing worthy of Remark on hunting shooting, coursing, racing, fishing…wrestling, crickets, billiards, rowing etc’.  Donated by a veterinary surgeon and included in our collection because of the animal orientated sport it covers.

Not unexpectedly a lot of the activities mentioned in The Annals of Sporting and Fancy Gazette are, what we would now call, blood sports.  A reader can expect to learn about the ‘Adventures of a hunter; by himself’ or inform themselves on ‘The observations of the present system of hunting’.

The precociously titled ‘Confession of a Young Sportsman’ (The Annals of Sporting and Fancy Gazette, Vol. 5, pp. 41-47, 1824) gives the experiences of a naïve young man who visits his friend, Bullstrode, in Yorkshire to shoot ‘grouse on the wing’. After a day of unsuccessful shooting he finally manages to hit some game:

‘I pointed a gun in a careless manner, not expecting to bring anything down, but was never so delighted in my life as when I saw it bounce upon the ground’.

Pheasant shootingSuccessfully shooting down a grouse was obviously the object of the day’s hunting but the young man also revelled in the companionship, the challenge and especially the hunting party’s supply of alcohol.  His hunting companion ‘produced a bottle of rum… Bullstrode’s eyes sparkled with joy as he beheld the unexpected and copious supply’.

The Sportsman’s Vocal Cabinet by Charles Arminger (1830) is an entire volume dedicated to songs in praise of sport and rural pursuits.  Many of the songs are about hunting and talk of the thrill of the chase or  celebrate  a successful hunt but I prefer the sillier extract below:

“Oh! day of joy! long wish’d for day!”
The sportsman cries, and bends his way:
The air is fresh, the morning clear,
The fields in spangled green appear’

Another song (with sixteen verses) relates the joys of crown green bowling and starts:

‘I am a jolly bowler,
Of the free thinking club;
and all my notes are fly, fly, fly,
Rub, rub a thousand, rub.
And a bowling we will go, and a bowling we will go’

Unfortunately bowling isn’t an olympic sport so we don’t have an excuse to sing this one at the moment.

Image: ‘Octobers own’ from The New Sporting Magazine 1846

Honouring our ‘professional brethren on the Continent’

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Nominations are currently been sought for RCVS Honorary Fellowship or Honorary Associateship.

These prestigious honours have a long history.  The  RCVS has had the power to bestow them since the Supplemental Charter of 1876, with the first Honorary Associateships made  in 1880.

The minutes of the Council meeting of 29 July record President George Fleming’s opening remarks in which he gives an account of his attendance at an International Veterinary Conference in Brussels.  He had been invited to attend in a private capacity and remarked that “the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons was not known on the Continent, and was not in any way recognised”. He thought that the “time had come when they should elect some of their professional brethren on the Continent as Honorary Fellows of the Royal College.”

Closing the meeting, Fleming gives notice of a motion that he will bring to the next meeting: “he will bring forward the names of certain gentlemen… and move that they will be elected Honorary Fellows”.  This he duly did at the Council meeting on 13 October of that year.  Interestingly, the motion he actually laid proposed that the gentlemen be elected as Honorary Associates of the College and not Honorary Fellows.

So who was on the list of names?  Well there was 67 of them – a fact that gave cause to some discussion in Council, with one member saying the President would “do better… to select some of the names” to which Fleming replied that they were all eminent and to select a few would have “appeared invidious.”    Fleming might have had a point as the list includes the Professors or Directors of most of the European veterinary schools as well as several principal veterinary surgeons in the armies of Europe.  I wonder if the attendance list of the Conference in Brussels was the basis for Fleming’s selection?

Section of the list of Honorary Associates 1880

Section of the list of Honorary Associates 1880

Following discussion about the cost of producing and posting out the certificates (which was to mirror the certificate for the RCVS Fellowship, including a Latin inscription)  the motion was finally passed.

The full list of names was published in the Veterinary Journal and appeared in the RCVS Register of 1881 where they are named as Honorary Foreign Associates (the distinction between Honorary Associates (for UK-based individuals) and Honorary Foreign Associates was maintained until the late 1920s).

Illustration by Jean-Pierre Megnin one of the original Honorary Foreign Associates

Illustration by Jean-Pierre Megnin one of the original Honorary Foreign Associates

From a library perspective it is good to note that the ‘only’ privilege of being an Honorary Associate was free use of the library and museum (the privileges were modelled on those offered by the Royal College of Surgeons to their honorary members).

I’d like to think they appreciated this benefit – they certainly added to the collections as we have copies of books written by these gentleman in the Historical Collection – signed ‘with the compliments of the author’.    I have often wondered what the connection was – now I know.

Parrots with the power of speech

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Parakeets are often on my mind because the squawking of the Ring-necked parakeet (Psittacula krameri), which is now naturalised in the UK,  accompanies my journey to work most mornings when walking down the road to the station or passing through St James Park.

Alexandrine parakeet

Illustration of Alexandrine parakeet

This beautiful illustration is of  the Alexandrine parakeet (Psittacula eupatria), a close relative of the Ring-necked parakeet, which is native to India and South East Asia.   The image comes from Dr Karl Russ’s book The Speaking parrots a scientific manual published in 1884.  The author states in the preface that the book is intended to be a source of advice on the purchase, care and training of parrots for all lovers of the species.  In the first chapter he explains why the book concentrates on parrots and in particular those with the power of speech.

 “There are many advantages which the parrot enjoys over all other creatures…its fellows in the animal kingdom are behind it…especially in the power of imitating human words…it must decidedly belong to higher ranks of creation…[which gives mankind]…a lively and widespread love…for creatures which can speak, that is to say for birds, gifted with the power of speech”

Our copy of this book is one of a number of beautifully illustrated ornithological books that were donated to the library by relatives of Henry Gray (1865-1939). Henry Gray was a prominent London practitioner whose obituary in the Veterinary Record states “The study of birds was his first and enduring delight; in later years nothing gave him greater satisfaction than a fireside talk about birds …In this country he was the veterinary pioneer of the scientific study of birds in health and disease”. (1)

If you would like to look at more of these beautiful illustrations why not pay us a visit?

References

1 Veterinary Record  25th February 1939 pp260-261

South African War Diaries

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In  1900, Frederick Smith was serving as a veterinary officer in the South African War.  The entries in his official war diary for August of that year show that the focus of his attention at that time was on finding a new site for the veterinary hospital which he had responsibility for.

The hospital was full to capacity with horses suffering from glanders and sore back.   On 13 August, Smith notes in his diary that in the previous week they had admitted 666 horses and mules of which 6 had died, 150 had been destroyed and 64 had been sent for duty.  When added to the existing animals in the hospital this gave a total of  1011.

There were also some staffing difficulties to contend with, speaking of one of the hospital staff he writes:

 “Clarke did not know a single case in the place, says he cannot remember them!  I have given him one more chance.” [16 August]

However, in true British style, the main thing that was concerning Smith seems to have been the weather as it “rained the whole day” and “rained all night.” This was causing problems for the animals “the horses are over their fetlocks in clay.  Walking can only be done by painfully putting each foot alternately in progression”.  There was also an ever present  threat of the imminent flooding of the hospital if the river rose much more.

On 30 August Smith took his Commanding Officer to see the two places he had identified as possible new locations for the hospital but these were ruled out because of “military considerations … the defences of the town are to be … contracted” which would have left them exposed to attack.

The CO identified another site which Smith didn’t like at all “owing to the difficulty of watering, the banks being nearly vertical & quite 50 feet above the river.”  Fortunately the CO later changed his mind and rejected the site because it would have taken too long to prepare.

Smith's sketch of the new hospital

Smith’s sketch of the new hospital

Finally on 1 September a new site was suggested on the north bank of the river.   This met with Smith’s approval as it was surrounded by the river giving “complete protection in the event of an attack”, it had “sandy ground” and the low banks of the river “allowed water to be pumped up easily.”   He rapidly planned the hospital drawing a sketch of what it would look like.  It was to “have six kraals each holding 100 horses, and lines for another 400… the kraals will be well built, mangers will be supplied.”

Work started on 2nd September when Smith writes “Tomorrow and the whole of next week will be occupied getting the place right.”   I hope it was compeleted before the weather got any worse!

These official war diaries, which cover the period 1899-1902,  form a small part of the Frederick Smith Collection which also  includes notes relating to his research and publications, reprints of his published articles, handwritten notes for his autobiography, photographs and notes relating to the Army Veterinary Service and letters written between 1877-1929.