28 THE MODERN HOUSE DOCTOR. 



■which arc kept two thousand cows and oxen, is a town full of dis- 

 tilleries, and these animals are fed on slops and grains. From 

 the situation, want of drainage, and accumulation of filth, added 

 to the imperfect system of ventilation, management, &c, the 

 location may be considered as the very centre and focus of a dis- 

 ease like pleuro-pneumonia." Since the year 1836 the town has 

 never been free from the malady, and many hundreds of animals, 

 during the past sixteen years, have fallen victims to it, and the 

 town is now said to be free from the pest ! 



Finally, the few distinguished men here named, and others, 

 too numerous to mention, animated with a desire for knowledge, 

 have availed themselves of the opportunities afforded for reading 

 the book of life as it is written by the hand of Omnipotence in 

 the series of animated creation, and the benefits which all have 

 derived are incalculable. 



BRIEF HISTORY OF VETERINARY SCIENCE. 



The veterinary science, like that practised on man, was first 

 called into existence by necessity ; the many diseases to which 

 domestic animals were subject, and to which they, too frequently, 

 fell victims for want of proper professional knowledge, and the 

 great loss which agriculturists experienced in consequence, led 

 them to seek for a remedy. 



In the year 1761, the first veterinary school was established at 

 Lyons, under the patronage of government, whose fostering care 

 the infant school for a time received. At the commencement of 

 this embryotic enterprise, the populace looked on with indiffer- 

 ence ; but many of the liberal and scientific men of that day saw 

 in the enterprise a boundless field for research, a broad road to 

 usefulness and distinction, and many eagerly embarked in it with 

 unflinching perseverance, overcoming every obstacle, with a view 

 of making known those laws regulating the vital forces of domes- 

 tic animals. 



The fruits of their labors are bequeathed as a legacy to the 



