700 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION K. 



n<ust be combated. To individual members its existence is a 

 constant source oi annoyance, but there always remains the encour- 

 aging feature that the self-styled practical man is invariably 

 routed when he pits his knowledge against that of the trained man, 

 as the only really practical man is the really scientific man. 



Occasionally one hears critical remarks made as to the scientific 

 training candidates for veterinary qualification must undergo, 

 but unfavorable judgment is largely attributable to ignorance of 

 the fact that a scientific foundation is the only effective basis for 

 progressive technical work in any direction, and an essential one 

 for the education and training 6f veterinary scientists, whose 

 duties now cover so wide a range. With the extension of the 

 services of the veterinarian, the curriculum for graduation has of 

 necessity been elaborated. In this connexion one might refer to 

 the extensive training in pathology and bacteriology the student 

 now undergoes, an advancement due ;not so much to the growth 

 of these subjects as to the wide fields they have opened up in the 

 study of diseases of animals, the paths of which have led to 

 discoveries, important not only in the preservation of animal 

 health, but also in the protection of human life. 



The time has arrived for all advanced countries to possess a 

 competent veterinary service equipped with a research laboratory, 

 and politicians have only to reflect upon the work this service 

 is capable of performing to recognise its economic importance. In 

 South Africa, for many years, and especially after the termina- 

 tion of the Boer war, several diseases made agriculture almost 

 impossible in many districts. This caused the Government to 

 engage an extensive veterinary staff and establish a research 

 institute at a cost of over £75,000. The results obtained have 

 not only handsomely repaid the capital outlaid in the saving of 

 live stock effected by the practical application of methods dis- 

 covered for the repression and control of animal plagues, but they 

 have materially aided in the commercial prosperity of the country 

 by encouraging the re-establishment of agricultural pursuits in the 

 affected districts and making possible the settlement of new 

 territory. Further, they have enriched the world with much 

 scientific knowledge that is being profitably applied. The work 

 of the veterinary scientists of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 United States of America, is universally recognised as of great 

 value to both scientists and pastoralists. The classic investigation 

 carried out by them in connexion with Texas fever in cattle 

 afforded the first proof of an insect-borne disease, a discovery that 

 has facilitated the elucidation of the mode of infection of many 

 serious diseases of both man and the lov/er animals, and thus 

 suggested effective measures for their repression. 



