22 ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION. 



Veterinary Service has just reason to be proud of its hospitals 

 during the Great War in its various theatres, and of its achieve- 

 ments in treatment both medical and surgical. As may be 

 imagined the experience gained in surgery has been of 

 incalculable value to the veterinary profession as a whole. It 

 is quite impossible to describe adequately the efficiency to 

 which these units attained during the war. Results, and 

 particularly in surgical treatment, were astounding. 



An idea of the magnitude of work done in Veterinary 

 Hospitals and Convalescent Horse Depots in France will be 

 gathered from the following summary covering the period from 

 18th August 1914 to 23rd January 1919 :— 



Admitted ... ... ... 725,216 



Cured ... ... ... 529,064 



Died ... ... ... 18,975 



Destroyed (including animals destroyed 



and sold for food). ... ... 127,741 



Sold to agriculturists ... ... 29,524 



Remaining under treatment . . . 19,912 



Total ... 725,216 

 In stating these figures it is at the same time necessary to 

 mention the following facts in connection with them. The 

 principle of the Veterinary Service was to get down from the 

 front as many animals as it was possible to save ; in other words 

 to give every animal a chance. Many were hopeless from the 

 start, and others from an economic point of view were not worth 

 treatment. But they commanded a commercial value either 

 for purposes of food, or for by-products in the case of those 

 deemed by Vety. Officers to be unsuitable for food. 



The number of destructions may seem high, but the foregoing 

 table will explain this, and it will be shown in a subsequent 

 chapter that the total receipts for disposal as food in Army areas 

 and in Veterinary Hospitals up to 31st March 1919 amounted 

 to the large sum of £1,328,000, while the profit accruing from 

 by-products was ±'56,000. It will be realised also that with 

 over four years of war, the working efficiency of animals 

 individually became much impaired, and that a Category B in 

 animals resulted in like manner to that of men. 



