The Diagnosis of Diseases. 



The object of practical veterinary medicine is manifold, 

 but in the main it consists in the restoration of the destroyed 

 health of our domestic animals. For this purpose a knowledge 

 of the affected organ and of the character of the disease is 

 indispensable, because this knowledge offers the only safe basis 

 for a rational treatment and a correct prognosis. 



Thus the art of making a correct diagnosis is not only the 

 foundation upon which practical veterinary medicine rests, but 

 it is pre-eminently that which elevates medicine to the dignity 

 of a science. 



-=' Diagnosis is the art of determining in- 

 ternal changes of the body by the aid of 

 externally visible or otherwise appreci- 

 able changes in the animal's condition 

 or some of its organs. It also includes 

 the recognition and name of the disease. 



Since disease is a deviation from normal conditions and 

 physiological processes, morbid changes cannot be recognized 

 without a knowledge of normal conditions. 



In the classroom the student has no opportunity to study 

 the physical characteristics and the physiological functions of 

 organs in living animals ; he must learn this from personal ob- 

 servation and investigation in the clinic. In the clinic he 

 must cultivate his senses and learn to hear, see, feel and smell 

 in order to be able to judge correctly. 



In the course of his practice different species of animals 

 are presented to the veterinarian for clinical examination. This 

 gives rise to certain difficulties which, in the main, are based 



