586 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 
aggregate of results that any reasonable conclusion can be ar- 
rived at. 
What a significant tale is told by the records of animal 
mortality. Examine the slaughterman’s receptacles in the 
neighbourhood of populous cities; find that in one yard alone an 
average of three hundred horses per week, for months in the 
year, is not considered remarkable ; pursue the inquiry, and 
learn the vicious system of management that leads to this ; ob- 
serve how much science is mixed up with it ; note how far the 
science of ventilation is carried out ; see how the food is pro- 
portioned to the digestive functions ; question the amount of 
knowledge of the influence of noxious gases on the respiratory 
organs ; and then answer, why has “ practical experience” 
tolerated all these evils, till they threatened universal de- 
struction! 
The preservation of health must, in the mind of the true fol- 
lower of his art, stand infinitely higher than the cure of disease; 
it may be adverse to his interest, to the interest of the pro- 
fession to which he belongs, but the argument is childish, if 
nothing worse, that protests against the advantage of the many 
being consulted at the expense of the few. If the ultimate ob- 
ject of medicine be to support those who practise it, it becomes 
the duty of every one of its professors to keep the people in 
ignorance ; the man who expounds the functions of digestion to 
the masses becomes a dangerous member; the individual who 
insists on ventilation, a traitor to his cause. The total eradica- 
tion of disease is synonymous with the anihilation of medicine; 
nevertheless, he is no true disciple who does not aim at such 
an end. 
We are glad to quote from an opening lecture delivered by 
Professor Spooner, in 1849. Speaking of the contract system, 
he remarks, “ The further this system is carried, the more it 
will lead to a very broad development in both the veterinary 
and medical professions — public health, as maintained by the 
adoption of prophylactick measures, is that to which I allude ; 
and the preservation of health ought, I think, be considered by 
us as a nobler art than the cure of disease. The rapid strides 
which agriculture is making, in the draining of lands, the know- 
ledge of crops, &c. all lead to this consideration. The flocks 
and herds that adorn our landscapes, are as much crops, as far 
as their growth is concerned, as are the ears of wheat or blades 
of grass that flutter in the breeze. An extension of the same 
science that fattens the corn will fatten the cattle. The ve- 
getable kingdom, also, has its diseases and its cures, equally 
with the animal ; but it is art and science on a large scale alone 
that can by combatting with the one, furnish the other. I look 
