310 Annual Bejwt of llie Boijal Vcterinarij College on their 
in any previous year since tlie institution wasfounded, the number 
might have been extended considerably if a small proportion of 
the 10,000 members of the Society had felt sufficient interest in 
the matter to induce them to send to the College animals which 
were useless on the farm. Cases of obscure disease in cattle, 
sheep, and swine are common enough ; the animals are marked 
out as " bad doers," nothing is known of the cause of the falling- 
off in condition, and, after the herdsman or shepherd has tried 
his traditional remedies in vain, the animal is finally killed and 
buried, or sold for a trifle to some wandering jobber, and a 
valuable case is lost. 
For purposes of investigation it is far more useful to obtain 
possession of diseased animals which are known to be worth 
nothing beyond the value of their hides, than to receive a larger 
number of patients into the infirmary in the ordinary course of 
veterinary practice, for the obvious reason that these animals are 
to be cured and returned to their owners, while the former are 
available for critical inquiry into the nature of the disease and 
means of cure, and the final test of a post-mortem examination. 
Farmers complain that veterinary surgeons are too exclusively 
devoted to the horse, and take but a languid interest in the 
maladies of the other animals of the farm. The charge is to 
some extent true, and no improvement can be hoped for until 
farmers will give the members of the veterinary profession op- 
portunities of dealing with outbreaks of disease among cattle, 
sheep, and swine, equal to those which they are afforded in the 
case of the horse. 
Members of the Society cannot better assist in carrying out the 
aims of the Veterinary Committee than by keeping the College 
well furnished with subjects for investigation, and they may rest 
assured that there has not been any lack of interest on the part 
of the students in taking advantage of the means which have 
recently been offered. 
Statement of Cases of Diseased Cattle, Sheep, and Swine 
admitted to the royal veterinary college in 1888. 
In Januaiy a very intei'esting case of a cow with advanced 
tuberculosis was purchased from a dairyman and brought to the 
College. The animal was extremely emaciated, being in fact 
what is known as " a waster " or " piner." 
In April, three steers affected with the disease known as 
actinomycosis were admitted. 
In May, two calves suffering from rheumatic disease of joints 
(joint felon) were admitted. The affection was at first supposed 
