210 THE HISTORY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



Classes of Domestic Animals." The title is high-sounding enough, 

 but while Messrs. Law and Detmers, veterinarians, give us some 

 valuable knowledge with reference to one contagio-infectious dis- 

 ease of swine, the so-called "hog-cholera," the "report" is abso- 

 lutely wanting in any reliable statistics with reference to the same. 

 Numerous medical men have also given contributions with reference 

 to this swine-disease, many of which are most absurd : for instance, 

 calling it "typhus," and comj^aring it with the specific infectious 

 disease of man known by that name. Yeterinary-Surgeon Det- 

 mers also gives a compilation with reference to the glanders of the 

 horse. Aside from the pleuro-pneumonia of cattle, no other conta- 

 gious disease of our animals is mentioned in the report. This is not 

 to be wondered at. In a country where there are very few well- 

 educated veterinary surgeons, where there is no appreciation of the 

 true value of veterinary science ; in a country where quacks and 

 empirics of every form are nourished and appreciated before the 

 well-educated practitioners, in only too many instances ; in a coun- 

 try where there is no official examination of the products from food- 

 producing animals, and where there are neither laws nor regulations 

 for the suppression of contagious animal diseases ; in a country boast- 

 ing, as it does, of its civilization and the extent of education among 

 its people, where there is no well-organized veterinary school, or a 

 medical school devoted exclusively to the scientific study and devel- 

 opment of science, and regulated by the State — it is not surprising 

 that it is impossible for the Government to gather reliable, or any, 

 statistics with reference to the devastations caused by pests among 

 its animals. 



The prevention of the already described human diseases due to 

 causes originating in our domestic animals, the suppression and 

 prevention of devastating animal pests, can only he attained by the 

 development of veterinary science, and at the hands of scientifically 

 educated veterinarians. 



This can only be attained by having a completely organized and 

 State-regulated veterinary institute, and for reasons which I shall 

 presently give. One national institute is far more in the interests 

 of the people of this country than State institutes. 



Before, however, entering upon the discussion of that subject, it 

 is not inappropriate to cursorily trace the history of veterinary medi- 

 cine from its beginning to our time. The history of veterinary 

 medicine per se can be logically divided into two periods : the 

 ante-school, or crude, empirical period, extending from the earliest 

 antiquity to the year 1762 ; and the scholastic or educational period, 



