16 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 992 



diagnosis and pathological laboratory. It 

 is estimated that they will cost $200,000. 

 While these appropriations may seem large, 

 it is well to know that the little country of 

 Norway, with far less live stock than the 

 Empire State, has recently built a national 

 veterinary college at a cost of 2,300,000 

 krona ($644,000) or a hundred thousand 

 dollars more than the plans of this college 

 call for. 



The completion of suitable hospitals for 

 lar^e and small animals, clinic halls and 

 diagnostic laboratories adapted to the 

 teaching of clinical medicine justifies out 

 calling this the beginning of the third era 

 in the development of veterinary medicine 

 at Cornell University. The opening of 

 these splendid wards is significant not only 

 from the pedagogic point of view but also 

 from the standpoint of better veterinary 

 service in the state. The thought of the 

 leading educators in human medicine has 

 been that the teachers of medicine should 

 have adequate hospital facilities to study 

 disease in all of its phases and that they 

 should not be distracted by private prac- 

 tise. This ideal toward which our best 

 medical colleges have been striving has 

 been attained in but few institutions. In 

 this particular, we are fortunate. With 

 ample hospital and clinical facilities and 

 men eminently fitted for teaching veteri- 

 nary medicine, it is confidently expected 

 that greater efficiency will not only char- 

 acterize the teaching of students but also 

 increase the application of better methods 

 for the treatment, prevention and control 

 of animal diseases in the state. In I'ejoicing 

 that such opportunities have been provided, 

 we must not be boastful, for in the acquisi- 

 tion of such facilities, the states of Iowa, 

 Ohio and Pennsylvania have led the Em- 

 pire State. We do rejoice, however, that 

 America is beginning to realize that if the 

 fearful losses from animal diseases are to 



be checked here as they are in Europe, 

 veterinary medicine must be taught and 

 practised along equally scientific lines. 



The work of the veterinarian is not gen- 

 erally understood or appreciated. It is 

 not the only purpose of a veterinary college 

 to teach men how to treat the accidental 

 ills of animals. In addition to this, the 

 veterinarian has to advise the owners how 

 to protect their flocks and herds from the 

 diseases which are liable to attack them. 

 In New York state there are $290,000,000 

 invested in animals. The annual revenue 

 from this investment is $140,000,000 or 

 nearly two fifths of the total agricultural 

 product of the state. It has been conser- 

 vatively estimated that the loss from dis- 

 ease is ten per cent. One of the problems 

 for the veterinarian is to save to the live 

 stock industry all that is preventable of the 

 $29,000,000 loss on investment and to re- 

 store as much as possible of the loss in pro- 

 duction due to disease. The control of the 

 diseases of animals communicable to man 

 is not a task of small proportions. The 

 inspection of dairy cattle to detect and 

 eliminate those whose milk is dangerous, to 

 inspect the meat from diseased animals 

 that are killed for food, and the many other 

 services of a sanitary, humane or economic 

 significance require a large fund of tech- 

 nical knowledge. It is not my desire to 

 dwell upon the multitude of needed serv- 

 ices the trained veterinarian can render but 

 rather to call attention to the efforts that 

 are being made to qualify men for such 

 work. 



I have already mentioned the purpose of 

 the founders of this college and the some- 

 what discouraging outlook at its opening. 

 Starting with an initial enrollment of eleven 

 students in all classes and a faculty of eight, 

 we have now a registration of one hundred 

 and twenty-three undergraduate students 

 and five graduates and a faculty of nine- 



