ON THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 29 



m regard to the origin of diseases, it is known to the profession 

 that the diseases of men and animals are often due to similar 

 causes ; that the evils of .domestication, which operate to develop 

 disease in animals, are as notorious as the evils of civilization, 

 which induces unnecessary diseases and premature death among 

 members of the human family ; therfore, our science does bear 

 an intimate relation to social science, and it appears to us that no 

 scientific mind can fail to appreciate the advantages to be derived 

 from a more extended knowledge of the fundamental principles 

 of veterinary science. 



Let the husbandmen and stock-raisers of this country put their 

 shoulders to the wheel, in view of establishing veterinary schools 

 and colleges throughout the length and breadth of our immense 

 agricultural domain, and soon we can boast of having a class of 

 veterinary surgeons, educated on American soil, conversant with 

 the diseases incidental to the live stock of America. In that event, 

 we can do our own doctoring, without foreign interference. 



We are not disposed to find fault, nor scold about the itinerant 

 veterinary practice which prevails throughout the United States, 

 for we are aware that all try to do the best they can for the relief 

 of the inferior orders of creation. The fault is not with the prac- 

 titioners, but with the people, who have failed to furnish the 

 means of education. 



Resume. — Since writing the above, the " Trichina " disease has 

 made its appearance in Berlin, creating a terrible consternation 

 among the consumers of pork. The disease in its symptoms some- 

 what resembles cholera, but on making post-mortem examina- 

 tions, there was soon discovered in the flesh of some persons an 

 immense number of small microscopic parasites ; these were traced 

 back to the flesh of the hog, where they were discovered in the 

 form of chrysali imbedded in a little shell of lime ; these, on being 

 subjected to a slight degree of heat, speedily brought forth myriads 

 of small parasites, of various forms and sizes, a dozen of which 

 were frequently found in a piece of tissue as large as a pin's head. 

 The process of incubation was discovered to have been produced 

 in the intestines of those who had eaten the pork, by the animal 

 warmth of the stomach. Thus freed from their shells, the creat- 

 ures make their way through the walls of the intestines in every 

 direction, choosing the hard and fleshy tissues especially, and none 

 of them have yet been found in the blood. Most remarkable to 



