134 



The Veterinarian. 



Vol. II, 



Europe has long been the theatre of exten- 

 sive epidemic diseases among domestic ani- 

 mals, so destructive in their character, as to 

 force upon the people, the necessity of estab- 

 lishing Veterinary Schools, and attentively 

 study mg the nature, and the means of arrest- 

 ing the progress of those fatal maladies. 

 Most of the European states now possess sucli 

 Colleges, and are reaping the advantages 

 which scientific knowledge, and practical 

 skill in the treatment of epizootic diseases, 

 must necessarily confer. Yeterinary Medi- 

 cine has there assumed the rank of a distinct 

 science, and is regularly taught to students, 

 by Professors appointed for the purpose. In 

 many instances, however, the attention has 

 been given, too exclusively to the horse, 

 while a greater interest in cattle, &.c. has 

 been comparatively neglected. Until very 

 recently nothing like a scientific work on 

 cattle was to be found in the English Lan- 

 guage. The desideratum has at length been 

 supplied by W. Youatt, in a work on the 

 "British Cattle constituting a volume of the 

 Library of Useful Knowledge — Farmers' 

 iSeries." This writer very properly remarks, 

 "if an ox is not, individually, so valuable as 

 a horse, yet, in the aggregate, cattle consti- 

 tute a much greater proportion of the wealth 

 of the country, for, although Great Britain 

 contains a million and a half of horses, she 

 has to boast of more than eight millions of 

 cattle." Again, •' although a tenth part of 

 the sheep, and lambs die annually of disease, 

 (more than four millions perished by the rot 

 alone, in the winter of 18'29~30;) and at 

 least a fifteenth part of the neat cattle are 

 destroyed by inflammatory fever, milk fever, 

 red water, hoase, and diarrhosa; and the coun- 

 try incurs a loss, annually, of nearly ten mil- 

 lions of pounds, the agriculturist knows not 

 where to go for information, on the nature, 

 and the cure of the maladies of which they 

 die; and is cither driven to confide in the 

 boasted skill of the ignorant pretender, or 

 make up his mind that, it is vain to struggle 

 ac-ainst the evils which he cannot arrest, and 

 lels matters take their course. There are 

 two f>reat sources of the mortality of cattle 

 and sheep, and the loss of agricultural pro- 

 perty, and it is difiicult to say which is the 

 worst, the ignorance and obstinacy of the ser- 

 vant, and cow-leech, or the ignorance and 

 supineness of the owner." 



The loss of live stock from disease, is pro- 

 bably, almost as great in this country as in 

 Encfland, and we certainly cannot, any more 

 than they, escape approbrium of ignorance 

 and supineness on the subject. 



It is impossible to estimate the loss of do- 

 mestic animals in the United States, but it is 

 confessedly enormous. Two of my neigh- 

 bors, whose farms join each other, have lost 



each, five cattle from reputed murrain, witi 

 in the last year. These ten cattle were pri 

 bably worth about $400. A large portion < 

 this kind of loss, could no doubt be saved b\ 

 skill and attention — more than enough to re- 

 munerate the expense of establishing Veteri- 

 nary Colleges in all the States in the Union, 

 without otherwise incurring expense to the 

 people. When once established they ought 

 to support themselves. 



It is only necessary to arouse public atten- 

 tion to this subject, to exhibit it in its trur 

 light, to ensure its accomplishment. Pen: 

 sylvania is deeply interested in this matt.:: 

 and many of her spirited, intelligent and en- 

 terprizing farmers, would no doubt, feel proud 

 to set an honorable example to her sister 

 states, by the institution of the first Veteri- 

 nary College this side the Atlantic. Mea- 

 sures for promoting the object should be 

 speedily concerted. The amount of proper 

 ty constantly exposed to danger, by ignoraiK 

 and supineness, loudly demands it. Tl 

 nwnied resources and enterprize of our agi 

 cultijrists, are amply tufiicient. And thei\ 

 is an abundance of unoccupied talent which 

 might be placed in requisition. The people 

 have only to will it, and the work would be 

 accomplished. 



Data are wanting, from which to calculate 

 the numbers of the several kinds of stock, in 

 the United States, or to ascertain the propor- 

 tion of these which die of disease. The fol- 

 lowing statement, derived from the writer al- 

 ready quoted, may shed some light on the 

 subject, and interest some of my readers. He 

 states that there are, annually, sold in the 

 Smithfield market, exclusive of dead meat 

 from the country, 



160,000 Cattle, 

 1,200,000 Sheep, 

 36,000 Pigs, and 

 16,000 Calves. 



This he estimates to be one tenth of the 

 quantity sold in the United Kingdom, the 

 average value he computes to be, 

 Of Cattle, £10. 

 " Sheep, 1 10s. 

 " Pigs, 2. 



" Calves, 2 lOs. 

 The average age of these several kinds of 

 stock, when taken to market, (and conse- 

 quently, the length of time which capital is 

 invested in them) is supposed to be. 

 Of Cattle, 5 years, 

 " Sheep, 2 " 

 » Pigs, 2 " 

 The following table will therefore show 

 the estimated amount of capital invested in 

 these several kinds of stock, in England, 

 Scotland and Ireland. 



