722 



Popular Science Monthly 



could get more work out of their animals 

 they were only too glad to cooperate in 

 every way with the agents of the Society. 



^ 



The cat miscalculated 

 the speed of an automo- 

 bile. He almost got out 

 of the way, but a paw and his tail didn't 



According to the figures published by 

 the Department of Agriculture there 



are about one 



hundred and 

 ninety ono mil- 

 lion domestic 

 animals in the 

 United States 

 and they are 

 worth, roughly, 

 six billion dol- 

 lars. Is it any 

 wonder that 

 science has be- 

 come interested 

 in animals. 

 There ■ are ap- 

 proximately 

 twenty-one mil- 

 lion horses in 

 thecountry, rep- 

 resenting an in- 

 vestment of two 

 billion, three 

 hundred million 

 dollars. The de- 

 spised mule may 

 not be so de- 

 spised when you 



consider that he represents five hundred 

 and sixty million dollars of our total 

 wealth and that his kind numbers about 

 four million five hundred thousand. 



Purely as a question of national 

 economy veterinary science should be 

 encouraged. 



The successful veterinary must be, 

 first of all, a good diagnostician; for his 

 patients cannot help him by describing 

 their symptoms. On the other hand, 

 they cannot mislead him by withholding 

 the truth, as human patients are prone 

 to do. Another essential is a natural 

 sympathy for animals. This is par- 

 ticularly necessary; unless the doctor can 

 gain the confidence of his animal-patient 

 it is exceedingly difficult for him to 

 obtain satisfactory results. 



Animals are subject to many of the 

 diseases that afilict human beings, and 

 besides these they suffer from a number 

 peculiar to their own species. Horses 

 are liable to pneumonia and unless very 

 carefully treated the disease is likely to 

 prove fatal. One of the most serious 

 ills to which horses are subject is known 

 as "azoturia," meaning to the lay 

 owner and driver spinal trouble. The 

 horse more likely to suffer from this 



The horse sustained injuries to both fore legs. A few years ago he 

 would have had to be killed, but now, thanks to this very modem 

 method of treating animals, he will be as good as ever in a month's 

 time. The use of a local anaesthetic prevents the horse from feeling 

 any pain during the operation 



