PROFESSOR SEWELL’S INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 69 
the veterinary surgeon ; and, the curriculum being thus far com- 
plete, he felt assured that but one desire would actuate both the 
teacher and the taught, — namely, that of advancing the veterinary 
profession by the establishing of sound principles, and the in- 
culcation of a spirit of oneness and of amity. 
In the earlier ages the practice of medicine was necessarily rude 
and empirical; and traditions were handed down from one practi- 
tioner to another, these having no foundation beyond that of benefit 
having once resulted from the adoption of a particular course, or 
the employment of a certain agent. And probably, before the 
flood, diseases were not so general as afterwards ; the altered cdn- 
dition of the earth favouring their development. 
The practice of veterinary medicine was, doubtlessly, coeval with 
that of the human, both having their origin in similar causes. 
Moreover, “ flocks and herds,” we are told, constituted the riches 
of the inhabitants of the East during many generations, the horse 
being used only for parade or pleasure, and in war ; yet, when he 
became more domesticated, and his enduring powers were better 
appreciated, many diseases shewed themselves in him from which 
previously he had been altogether exempt. 
The history of China, it has been before stated by me, has records 
of the employment of chemical compounds from a very early period. 
But although these are at the present day viewed as chemicals, 
they were doubtlessly not formed by processes of art, but were 
natural productions; such are Glauber’s salts, natron, and saltpetre. 
The remains of ancient monuments, too, would lead us to conclude 
that excellent mechanics and artisans then existed ; and it is but 
fair to infer that they formed instruments to be employed in 
surgical operations, by which they rivalled the untutored Esqui- 
maux, who, after having divided with a fish-bone the skin and 
muscles of an arm or leg, places the limb in a crevice on the ice, 
and snaps the bone in two, staunching the blood with burning moss 
in lieu of moxa. 
The wealth of a nation conduces to the prevalence of quackery, 
and it is now as rife as ever. During his time he had witnessed 
the employment of “ earth balls,” “ metallic tractors,” and “ medi- 
cated vapours.” And we have now Hydropathy, Homoeopathy, and 
Mesmerism : these, too, will by-and-by cease to be fashionable, 
and pass away, giving place to other modes of cure, fancied or real. 
The earliest practitioner of human medicine of whom we have 
any authentic account was Hippocrates. He practised in Greece, 
and dissected apes and quadrupeds; shewing how thus early 
anatomy was considered as the basis of medical science. 
Then arose two schools, the one opposed to the other as to the 
remedies to be employed in the cure of diseases. Galen and his 
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