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AN ADDRESS 



BEFORE THE NOEFOLK COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 



DELITERED BT 



CHARLES M. WOOD, VETERINARY SURGEON, OF BOSTON, 



NOVEMBER 17, 1S53. 



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Gentlemen — I come before an audience wbo are, doubtless, 

 somewhat acquainted with the subject on which I am to speak ; and, 

 therefore, I am not here as a teacher ; and perhaps, to some of you, 

 I may not be able to furnish anything new. I only come here to set 

 forth, in a condensed form, and as briefly as time will permit, the Im- 

 portance of veterinary knowledge, as connected with agricultural 

 pursuits. I am only doing what many others are able to do : giving 

 my time to condensing matters that may be useful to all owners of 

 horses and cattle ; to all such as have given no attention to the 

 subject, and who may be gratified at having placed before them, at 

 short hand, the results of investigations and of experience, which 

 they have neither the time nor opportunity to do. 



I think I can offer nothing, on my part, to yourselves and the So- 

 ciety, with more propriety, than the consideration of the effort now 

 being made to combine veterinary knowledge with agricultural pursuits. 

 It is a just remark, and those whom it chiefly concerns are beginning 

 to appreciate it, that no department of natural science is incapable of 

 yielding instruction. And to no class, perhaps, are the results of 

 scientific research so practically important, as to the owners of cattle 

 of all kinds, and to the cultivators of the soil ; for no art is so con- 

 nected with all the natural sciences, and so dependent upon them for 



