VETERINARY LECTURES 

 FOR AGRICULTURAL STUDENTS 



LECTURE I 

 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, etc., and by its agency 

 the two great important gases, oxygen and hydrogen, are combined to 

 form water ; again, by its aid water can be decomposed into its 

 elements. Thus, then, we derive from electricity light, heat ? moisture, 

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

 sensation and motion can be restored to a partially paralyzed 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. 



2. Life may be defined as an electro-vital phenomenon peculiar 

 to an organism which includes the powers of absorption, assimilation, 

 secretion, excretion, and reproduction ; and death is the cessation of all 

 these functions, with the return of the organic tissues to their ultimate 

 elements. 



3. Chemistry. — On the various constituents of the living body 

 being subjected to chemical analysis, some sixteen of the elementary 

 bodies are found to enter into their composition, and are as follows : 

 Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, potassium, sodium, calcium, 



