956 
VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
placed, something like the form of an amphitheatre, sufficient to contain 
upwards of two hundred thousand people. From these facts it is to be pre- 
sumed, that the horse must then have become of more repute, and to war- 
rant us in concluding that some knowledge of equine, analogous to that of 
human medicine, had existed and been acted on in attempting to alleviate 
the sufferings and prolong the life of the noble racer. Indeed, about this 
time — the sixth century before Christ, or shortly afterwards — Hippocrates 
collected the scattered fragments of ancient medical knowledge into some- 
thing like a systematic shape, and obtained for it the appellation of an art. 
He wrote upon the diseases of the lower animals as well as of mankind, and 
with such accuracy as clearly shows that he must have both studied and 
practised the arts on which he wrote. The redoubted general Zenophon has 
also left a commentary on the management of the horse. After him 
several others wrote on the veterinary art in conjunction with medicine, 
and seem to have practised both simultaneously. The elder Cato, about 
two hundred years before the Christian era, practised both arts. We are 
not told what the precise contents of his pharmacy consisted of, except that 
he patronised cabbage extensivelyi n his prescriptions ; and that, on one 
occasion at least, he departed so far from homoeopathic principles in pre- 
scribing for his wife as to kill her. Virgil was another eminent practitioner. 
His lofty genius did not disdain to laud 
“ The generous horse that nobly wild 
Neighs on the hills, and dares the angry lion.” 
His knowledge of medicine in its then known branches qualified him to 
sing— 
Morborum quoque te causas et signa docebo.” 
Indeed, we find from his own account, that he practised the veterinary art in 
the stables of Caesar Augustus, who rewarded him well for his skill. It is 
certain that about this time, if not long before, the Romans had adopted 
some methods of shoeing, by which the horses’ hoofs were protected ; and 
hence he must have become more generally serviceable in rural pursuits, 
and otherwise. Both Aristotle and Pliny mention that shoes were applied 
to the feet of camels, oxen, and mules, during long journeys, of a substance 
resembling sole leather; and we read of Nero having his mules shod with 
silver and those of his Empress with gold. 
These shoes or sandals must have been fastened on the hoofs without the 
aid of nails ; and we are told that they were frequently thrown off and lost in 
marshy gronnd. From the nature and insufficiency of these shoes, and the 
trouble and expense attending their use, it is evident that the horse had not 
so far superseded the use and employment of other animals, among the mass 
of the people requiring their services, as to render a knowledge of his dis- 
eases and their treatment a matter of very great importance to the common- 
wealth, except in so far as the cavalry were concerned. 
The veterinary art, however, had by this time obtained some repute, and 
regular practitioners were to be found plying their avocations. Shortly after, 
during the Roman wars in the early centuries of the Christian era, we find 
provision made for the appointment of a regular veterinary surgeon to each 
cavalry regiment. The art, in fact, flourished considerably during the last 
years of the Roman Republic, as we learn from the writers of that period, 
the last and best of whom, Vegetius, wrote in the early part of the fifth 
century. He seems to have been an amateur, but must have written from 
a practical knowledge of the subject ; and some of his suggestions and reme- 
dies are approved of in our day. He advocates, moreover, the claim the 
profession had to respectability and public importance ; lienee, he was the 
