98 NATIONAL TRENDS IN BIOLOGY 



Consequently, one notes in these regions an attempt to 

 classify plants and animals thus far found and described. 

 Great emphasis is placed on medicinal plants, and so the 

 first specialization produces botanists, who, from medici- 

 nal plants, proceed to the study of agriculture. In the bul- 

 letins of the respective secretaries of agriculture, one may 

 learn of what is done in these lands. 



On the animal side, the problem of animal breeding and 

 the veterinarian's work in trying to prevent epidemics 

 among stock, the raising of which is the principal industry 

 in some of these countries, looms high. This work, too, is 

 under the direction of the various departments of agri- 

 culture and of animal husbandry. 



The work on animals that affects the health of man is 

 seen, for example, at the University of Cordoba, Argen- 

 tina, where at some seasons of the year as many as 200 

 people daily apply for antirabies treatment. In the hinter- 

 land of Brazil, great numbers of venomous insects and 

 reptiles are a constant source of injury to the populace. 

 It is but natural, then, that the study of such problems is 

 considered of preeminent importance. Only a few years 

 ago, yellow fever was one of the dread scourges which sent 

 shudders down the spinal cord of most people contem- 

 plating even a visit to the most beautiful city of all the 

 Americas, Rio de Janeiro ; while the stories of the endemic 

 centers of typhoid and various tropical fevers kept 

 many away. 



Now Rio de Janeiro, as well as all other South American 

 cities where the population is sufficiently dense to afford 



