Rush., on studying the diseases of Animals* Ixiii 



There are indeed circumstances, which favour our ac- 

 quiring a more accurate knowledge of the diseases of dumb 

 animals than of those of our own species. From the causes 

 formerly mentioned, the number of their diseases is more li- 

 mited, and their symptoms are more obvious, for tliey are 

 not multiplied, nor complicated by intemperance in eating or 

 drinking, nor are they under the influence of passions which 

 suspend or alter them, and in some instances, to prevent their 

 evolutions. 



The seats of their diseases, moreover, are more perfectly 

 known from the greater facility of dissecting and exraiiining 

 their bodies after death. Again there are circumstances v/hich 

 favour the operation of medicine upon them, of which we 

 are deprived in our fellow creatures. These are, no prejudi- 

 dices against the names or taste of medicine, — a rare rejec- 

 tion of them after they havobeen received into the stomach, 

 and the absence of all fear and solicitude, about the issue of 

 their diseases. 



I have then, gentlemen, laid before you, a brief detail of 

 the obligations we owe to our domestic animals, and the re- 

 ciprocal advantages to be derived from extending to them the 

 benefits of the science of medicine. In performing this task, 

 I have endeavoured to become the organ of speech for the 

 dumb, and a suppliant for creatures that are unable to plead 

 for themselves. 



Permit me to recommend the subject to your attention in 

 your future studies. From the knowledge you will acquire of 

 the anatomy of the human body in this university, of the 

 laws which govern its ceconomy, you will easily comprehend 

 the small deviations from both, which take place in the bodies 

 and functions of inferior animals. By acquiring this kind of 

 knowledge, you will add to the resources of medicine as far as 

 it relates to the human body, and by disseminating it gratui- 

 tously in your neighbourhood, you will become the benefac- 

 tors of your country. 



