150 Diseases of the Horse. 



veterinary surgeon. This subject has not, we believe, 

 been generally worked out and applied as its importance 

 calls for. There is a form, usually confined to some large 

 establishments, represented by the employment of a 

 veterinary surgeon, whose sole time and attention is 

 given to the animals on the estate, &c., but the depart- 

 ment in which his value and energy would secure the 

 greatest reward, viz., the feeding department, is withheld 

 from him. He alone should be at its head ; but he, per- 

 haps, has never given it his attention. He is ignorant of 

 its resources, and it is mismanaged by another, providing 

 ample employment for him in medical practice, to which 

 his attention is entirely confined. This branch of the 

 essential department of hygiene is altogether neglected, 

 animal health is deteriorated, and the results are accepted 

 as inevitable, being atoned for by the usual debit entry in 

 the profit and loss account. 



The contract system, arranged on a liberal scale, may 

 be made to answer satisfactorily if the veterinary surgeon 

 were retained with the express purpose of preserving 

 health. He would be able to give much useful advice as 

 to work, housing, ventilation, &c., which would diminish 

 the need for medicines, and maintain the working power 

 of the animals. At the present time, however, neither 

 employer nor practitioner have much confidence in such 

 a proposal, few on either side having tested its value. 



The adoption of measures for preventing the spread of 

 contagious diseases is an essential department, and should 

 be under the control of the veterinary surgeon. The 

 results also of treating certain affections well known to 

 be ;w;/-contagious, but which have the character at times 

 of creating great havoc in large studs, would amply 

 repay for the exercise of suitable, and, in a sense, similar 

 measures. 



With respect to the first class, we believe the results of 

 large experience preponderate in favour of segregation 

 on definite lines, as laid down in the author's larger works 

 on the horse and cattle.* We are led also to believe the 



* "The Horse Doctor," and "The Cattle Doctor." London 

 and New York : F. Warne & Co. Price, 2 is, each. 



