THE INTRODUCTORY LECTURE OF MR. FIELD. 663 
and indicating not only the progressive advancement of veterinary 
science, but also that we possess within ourselves certain sources 
of information with which we were before entirely unacquainted. 
We must not imagine, gentlemen, because much has been ef- 
fected towards emancipating our body from the thraldom of igno- 
rance, that our labours are completed, and that we may now rest 
idly on our oars ; — far otherwise. If we cast our eyes around, we 
shall discover many a dreary waste, many a barren fallow field, 
and many a wild uncultivated spot, that have never known the 
blessings of seed-time or harvest. Believe me, much still remains 
to be done, and ever will ; and it is to be hoped that those en- 
lightened and experienced gentlemen, who have hitherto lent us 
their timely assistance, will not slacken in their ardour, but still 
continue their praiseworthy labours with the same steady and un- 
remitting zeal. It is impossible, gentlemen, for us to remain sta- 
tionary : we must either proceed or retrograde. We must either 
follow in the stream of universal advancement, or be content to fall 
back into our former state of unenviable insignificance. It is only 
by pressing forward that we can hope to arrive at the goal of an 
honourable ambition. If we disregard our present advantageous 
position in society ; if we evince apathy, or lukewarmness, or 
wavering in our course, our prospects will again become blighted, 
and our profession may have, for the second time, to struggle 
through a long night of darkness and of ignorance. 
A cursory glance at the history of veterinary medicine will soon 
discover that it was a subject by no means neglected in ancient times, 
as is evidenced by the writings of Xenophon, Hippocrates and others 
among the Greeks, and by several authors among the Romans. 
Of the latter, I need only refer to the poet Virgil ; for whoever has 
read the truthful and beautifully graphic account he has given of 
the diseases incidental to cattle in general, and his masterly de- 
scription of a fatal distemper that attacked the dumb creation in 
former ages, must be convinced not only that the veterinary art was 
known during the Augustan period, but that it had arrived at con- 
siderable eminence, and was not confined to the study of the horse 
alone. In fact, the whole subject matter of the 3d and 4th Books 
of the Georgies bears the stamp of an author of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, rather than of one who flourished shortly prior to the time of 
our Saviour. 
I should not have referred to so trite a subject as the early his- 
tory of our art, but for the purpose of impressing upon you the ne- 
cessity of not remitting your exertions, and reminding you that, 
although our art flourished in the olden times, it afterwards fell into 
disrepute, and was almost forgotten. What has once occurred may 
happen again. From a knowledge of the past we learn how to 
