VETERINARY SCIENCE. The care of sick animals on the farm requires more than ordinary prudence in its management. The dumb animal can not tell of its aches and pains, can not des cribe peculiar symptoms, except by brute signs, quite unintelligible to those who have not given particular study and attention to the phenomena presented in various cases. Pain in many instances is plainly enough intimated as to its near locality, by the animal turning its head to the part, or by striking at it with its feet. Yet the operator in veterinary art, must have studied much to be able always to tell the cause of that pain. Happily the days of bleeding and strong physic, the universal rule among a class of horse doctors, is now well past, and the modern vet erinary surgeon depends more upon good care and nursing, with such remedies as may be needed to meet particular symptoms as they occur. Under their appropriate names, in the body of this work, are given such remedies and specifics as are proper for the diseases treated of, (those most usually appearing in farm animals) and in all difficult and critical cases the reader is advised to appeal to a veterinary surgeon if such can be had, and if not, then apply to the family physician, for no humane countiy physician will now-a-days refuse to minister to a dumb brute, for fear of being called a horse doctor. That day is happily passed except among a class who might almost be called unworthy the name of M. D. It really requires more science sometimes to understand the symptoms of a dumb brute than a human subject, and hence the physician who prescribes really shows hirn self not only humane, but of broad culture as well. As showing how the practice of the heal ing art on the human subject has been assisted by comparative investigations on the bodies of animals, and also as showing something of the benefits accruing from the study of comparative anatomy and physiology, we rnay quote from as old and well known an authority as Galen, who said: If medical men have been guilty of gross errors, it is because they have neglected to dissect brutes. Says Mr. Vines, speaking of some vvho have distinguished themselves as sur geons: They have transplanted to the medical profession the honor of discoveries that were made by trenching on the territory of the veteri nary science. In experiments in transfusing the blood of one animal into that of another it was discovered that what were termed the globules of the blood were uniform in all animals of the same species, and yet presented different forms in, animals of different tribes. In man, the par ticles of blood presented flat disks, resembling pieces of money, having a slight depression. In birds, reptiles and fishes the disks vvere oval, in stead of being round, and instead of being de prEssed in the center, they were elevated on each side. From this experiment it was argued that the fitness of the blood of one animal to the uses of another of a different species depended on the formation of its globules. Experiments have frequently been rnade to test the truth of this theory, and it has been found to be correct. An eminent physiologist has remarked that, in order to arrive at an explanation of what is ob scure in man, we must look to the lowest and simplest forms of creation. For though in man is combined, in a wonderful and unequaled manner, all the functions which separately ex hibit themselves in various other animals, he is not the most favorable subject for observing their action; hence we are obliged to refer to a num ber of other tribes for the assistance we gain in the study of their comparative structures. There is not a single species of animal that does not present us with a set of facts which we should never learn lnit by observing them in such species, and many of the facts ascertained by the observation of the simplest and most common animals. Spe,aking of veterinary art, its general
history, and the science as it existed twenty years ago, the late Dr. Dadd wrote: The veteri nary science, like that practiced on man, was first called into existence by necessity; the many diseases to which domestic animals were subject, and to which they, too frequently, fell victims for want of proper professional knowledge, and the great loss which agriculturists experienced in consequence, led them to seek for a remedy. In the year 1761, the first veterinary school was established at Lyons, under the patronage of government, whose fostering care the infant school for a time received. At the commence ment of this embryotic enterprise, the populace looked on with indifference ; but many of the liberal and scientific men of that day saw in the enterprise a boundless field for research, a broad road to usefulness and distinction, and many eagerly embarked in it with unflinching per severance, overcoming every obstacle, with a view of making known those laws regulating the vital forces of domestic animals. The fruits of their labors are bequeathed as a legacy to the profession, and the names of the first cultivators of veterinary science are inscribed on the tablets of their country's history as public benefactors. Four years after the endowment of this, the first school in France, a similar one was established at Alfort. A regular system of veterinary medi cine was there taught, under which students acquired an acquaintance with the various forms of disease, and the modusoperandi of therapeutic agents on domestic animals. The novel enter prise was regarded by other nations of Europe with a vvatchful eye, and they were not slow in coming to the rescue; schools rapidly sprang up in Holland, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stutgard, and in various other places, which proved equally successful anti beneficial as the French schools. We now pass over a period of twenty-seven years, during which time the science had gradu ally enlisted in its ranks men of influence, tal ents, and research. And now an individual of French descent, named St. Bel, lands on the shores of England, having letters of introduction from the first men in France to Sir Joseph Banks and other influential individuals, to whom he made known his mission ; which was, that of establishing the veterinary science, then un known, and of course unappreciated, in the Brit ish dominions. He was encouraged, with very flatteiing assurances of success, to commence operations, aud shortly after his arrival in Lon don he published proposals for establishing a veterinary school; there seemed, howeFer, to be a sort of indifference manifested among the masses, and consequently very little, beyond making known his objeet, was effected during the first year. In the following, he published proposals to read lectures on the science, and thiis give the English nation an opportunity to judge of the value of the new project; but, alas! he was doomed to disappointment; his second proposal met with no better success than at first. The apparent failure of his primary labors has been attributed, by an eminent writer, to various causes, and it may be well for us to notice them, for the very same causes have been in active operation, diverting American skill and intelli gence from embarking in a cause so worthy the attention and support of a free and enlightened nation. It was in consequence of the character of those who presumed, without the necessary qualifications, to practice the art, that the Eng lish husbandmen refused to put their shoulders to the wheel, and receive the offered boon. That country had been visited by diseases of a pesti