THE HISTORY OF VKTERINARY MEDICINE. 231 



many which are nio-st hulicrous. AVhik' thu therapeutic knowledi^e 

 displayed hy ^'e^etius is frequently good, his knowledge of anatomy 

 was most insignitieant, especially of that which was then known in 

 human medicine." 



It is in the writings of these authors that we iind the words 

 "veterinaria" and " veterinarius" first appearing, indicating the 

 Latin oritrin of our words ''veterinary" and "' veterinarian." The 

 art was also called '* mulo-medicine," and Vcgetius styles himself 

 "Vegetii Renatii sive Mulo-medicinae." It is at or about this 

 period that we first find intimations of horseshoeing among the 

 Romans, a practice they seem to have borrowed from the Germans 

 and Gauls.* 



Veterinarii are also mentioned as attached to the Roman cavah-y, 

 and attending to the health of the animals used at the circus at 

 Rome. 



During this period numerous pests carried devastation and mis- 

 ery among the Romans and their tributary tribes; the domestic 

 animals likewise suffered from similar scourges. No writer of the 

 period has given to posterity so classical a description of these devas- 

 tations among animals as the poet Virgil in his " Georgics." I take 

 the liberty of transcribing a few appropriate verses of the same from 

 Mr. Fleming's " Animal Plagues " : 



" Not whirlwinds from the sea so frequent rush, 

 Big with storm, as pests 'mid cattle rage. 

 Nor individuals sole disorders seize, 

 But, suddenly, whole flocks, with every liope, 

 At once, and, from the youngest, all the race. 



"... From tainted air arose 

 A dreadful storm, inflamed by autumn's heat, 

 And gave to doatli all cattle, tamo and wild. 

 Corrupting lakes, poisoning the grassy food. 



" Hence, midst the springing grass, young cattle die, 

 And yield their gentle lives at loaded stalls; 

 Ilenco, madden fawning dogs, and the sick swine. 

 With suffocating shake and panting cough, give up their lives. 



"Lo! a^ tlie hull under the plowshnre smokes, 

 He falls, and vomits mint'led foam and gore, 

 And makes his final groan; 



• .\nr one dofirint; to road a most interesting archfrolngical Ptudv, should not fail to 

 obtain Mr. (Icorf^c Fleming's " Horsoshoos anil Horspshooing," which is a work more suit- 

 able to gi-neral education than for instruction in horseshoeing, though the latter part 

 does not fail in this particular. 



