230 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



in that it stimulated unprecedented interest in scientific work and 

 scientific workers. 



Not the least among the problems which you saw were those connected 

 with stock farming. It is doubtful whether any country in the world has 

 more problems confronting the stock owner than South Africa. Most of 

 the stock diseases present in European countries are also to be found in 

 the temperate climate of South Africa and, in addition, the majority of 

 the diseases of tropical Africa thrive within its borders. 



It is perhaps for this reason that Veterinary Science has made such 

 rapid strides in South Africa. The need for scientific research was first 

 brought home to farmer and statesman alike when rinderpest invaded 

 South Africa 35 years ago and killed off ahnost the entire cattle population ; 

 and the ravages of Horsesickness, Bluetongue, Heartwater, Nagana and 

 scores of other diseases further emphasised the necessity of scientific 

 research. Fortunately for South Airica (and perhaps for Veterinary 

 Science) the right men were forthcoming to undertake this research and 

 to-day, although many problems still await solution, the position of the 

 stock-owner in South Africa is by no means hopeless. 



The prominent position which Veterinary Research occupies in the 

 scientific life of South Africa to-day, and the valuable practical results 

 which have been obtained in this field of work, have encouraged me to 

 choose as the subject of my address : the role which Veterinary Science 

 plays in the agricultural development of a country. For obvious reasons 

 my remarks will be confined almost exclusively to the Live Stock side of 

 Agriculture in the wider sense. And for equally obvious reasons most 

 of my examples will be quoted from Soiith Africa. 



In his brilliant presidential address to this Section in 1928, Dr. J. S. 

 Gordon directed attention to the supreme importance of the live stock 

 industry in the agricultural economy of every unit of the British Common- 

 wealth of Nations. He came to the conclusion that the best means to 

 improve this industry was the increased use of pedigree sires and the 

 elimination of scrub bulls. He also emphasised the need for further 

 research along the following lines : (1) Animal Nutrition, (2) Animal^ 

 Diseases, (3) Animal Breeding, and (4) Marketing. Now all these subjects, 

 with the possible exception of Marketing, fall within the scope of the- 

 veterinarian, and I shall attempt to show how modern veterinary science 

 is actually advancing knowledge along each of these lines. 



But before dealing with these specific problems, it is necessary to saj 

 a few words about the development which has taken place in veterinary- 

 science itself. Looking back over the last 140 years, we see that we have 

 indeed travelled a long way since the first Veterinary College in Britain 

 was established in London in 1791 with the object of placing ' the study- 

 of Farriery upon rational and scientific principles.' The gulf which 

 divides the modern veterinarian and the eighteenth-century farrier is at 

 least as wide as that dividing the modern surgeon and the eighteenth- 

 century barber. 



During the earlier half of the nineteenth century very little progress 

 was recorded in Veterinary Science. In regard to the origin of disease 

 much ignorance and superstition prevailed. The ' miasmatic theory ' was 

 called upon to explain the spread of epidemic and epizootic diseases.. 



