VETERINARY LECTURES 



AGRICULTURAL STUDENTS 



FIRST LECTURE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



I. ALL the functions and actions of a living body are, more or 

 less, due to a stimulus or irritant of a vital character, directly or 

 indirectly applied ; and from the peculiarity of the magnetism which 

 surrounds our globe, and its influence on inorganic and organic 

 material, Electricity may be looked upon as the vital stimulus of 

 organic life. From electricity we have light, heat, motion, &c., and by 

 its agency the two great important gases — Oxygen and Hydrogen — 

 are combined to form water, and water decomposed into its elements — 

 Electrolysis. Thus, then, we derive from eiectricty light, heat, 

 moisture, and motion, the essentials of vitality. By the aid of electricity 

 also, sensation and motion can be restored to a partially paralysed 

 limb, and, when the electric current is made too powerful life is 

 destroyed. There is also to be considered the extraordinary action of 

 the X rays, of which nothing finite is yet known. 



B 



