THE HISTORY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 237 



into three parts, and is embellished with a fine copper print of the 

 author. The first part treats of the anatomy of the horse ; the sec- 

 ond, of its diseases and their treatment ; the third, of horseshoeing. 

 It is impossible to doubt the influence of Ruini, when one thought- 

 fully compares the plates and the arrangements of both these works. 

 At this period two men, father and son, occupied most prominent 

 positions among the veterinarians of France. I must beg leave to 

 nourish the opinion, heretical as it may seem, that it was an unfor- 

 tunate thing for France, unfortunate for the development of veteri- 

 nary science, not art, that the first veterinary schools established at 

 Lyons and Alfort, France, were not established under the direc- 

 tion of the younger Lafosse, rather than under that of his great 

 rival, Bourgelat. Bourgelat was a horseman, eminently practical ; 

 hence we see horseshoeing and all practical routine assuming a 

 place in French veterinary medicine, at the cost of the scientific in- 

 vestigating spirit, which would not have been the case had the more 

 scientific and original but not the less practical Lafosse been the 

 guiding star. I wish to call particular attention to this ojjinion, for 

 here in America we are in great danger of losing the true union of 

 science and practice, before the great practical common sense that 

 our people are so fond of assuming to themselves. We have not yet 

 learned, at least so far as the study and development of medicine is 

 concerned, that experience is a dear task-master. I would not have 

 it inferred that I would neglect the practical — I am too much of 

 an American for that — but true practice must ever stand upon the 

 results of scientific research ; upon an empiricism based upon some- 

 thing else than the traditions and errors of our forefathers ; the 

 things which have been, but which have never at the same time 

 been subjected to the skeptical crucible of the experimental, scien- 

 tific researcher. 



As the two Lafosses, especially the son, exerted such an influ- 

 ence on the development of veterinary medicine, a short notice of 

 their lives can not be out of place here. 



" Etienne Guillaume Lafosse,* the father, was born in Paris, 

 and died there January 24:, 1765. Little that is authentic is known 

 with reference to his life — he appears to have been lost sight of be- 

 hind the greater renown of his glorious son. Yet it was to him that 

 the son owed his careful education in the scientific and practical ele- 

 ments of his profession. The father had, however, given us some 

 idea of his ability by his investigations on the seat of glanders, 

 published in 1779, in a treatise entitled " Le veritable siege de la 



* Schraeder-Hering, he. cit., p. 234. 



