Diseases of the Horse. 141 



his patient. As the state of health is betokened by in- 

 fallible signs, so the existence of disease is no less certain 

 as shown by perverted function and states which are 

 never present in health. The department of science 

 which comprehends these particulars is known as Patho- 

 logy, or the doctrine of disease. In order, however, to 

 ascertain what particular form of disease is present, the 

 practitioner resorts to a process of analysis. He ex- 

 amines the signs singly and combined, and often turns to 

 a form of negative examination, that is, testing certain 

 organs to prove their state of health. This is particu- 

 larly called for in some obscure forms of derangement. 

 Symptomatology is the term by which the signs of a malady 

 are known as they appear in acknowledged or consecu- 

 tive order, when they are said to be characteristic of the 

 disease during life. 



The value of such study is remarkably apparent in the 

 results of an examination of the body after death. Disease 

 works important changes in structure as well as function 

 of organs, and these are minutely compared with the 

 appearances common to the healthy body, a proceeding 

 which forms an important part of the curriculum through- 

 out the period of training at our veterinary colleges. 

 While Anatomy teaches the relative position, form, and 

 general appearances of all parts of the healthy body, 

 Morbid or Pathological Anatomy is the symptomatology 

 of disease after death. 



By Veterinary Medicine we understand the enumera- 

 tion and consideration in detail of the nature, causes, 

 symptoms, and morbid appearances of all diseases. 

 Veterinary Surgery is the term applied to such diseases 

 as call for operations, generally the result of accident, as 

 fractures, ruptures, punctures from pointed instruments, 

 lacerations, &c, &c. 



Mater ia-Medica is that department which describes the 

 various remedies, their nature, physical characters, and 

 actions upon the animal body ; also the uses, doses, and 

 forms of combination in which they are prescribed. It 

 further teaches how certain medicines act upon and 

 destroy each other ; and more than this, how two or 



