PROFESSOR SPOONER’S ORATION. 
741 
live susceptibility of being acted upon by medicinal agents. This, 
however, does not hold good in every case. It does not follow as 
a matter of course, that, because you have a positive analogy of 
structure, — because by your ocular observation, or even through 
the aid of a microscope, you can ascertain no distinction of struc- 
ture between the same organ in two different animals, that there- 
fore they will be equally susceptible of being acted upon by the 
same medicinal agents. 
Does not this reasoning, or, in other words, do not these truths 
which are hereby developed to us, forcibly impress upon our minds 
the importance of strictly and practically attending to each and 
every animal, in order to render ourselves competent to adminis- 
ter to the alleviation of the sufferings under which they may be 
labouring; ? 
Shall it then, Gentlemen, be said, that in this, the 19th century, 
we, as members of a liberal profession, are still unimpressed with 
the importance of extending our investigations in the anatomy 
and physiology of all God’s creatures, and thereby allow igno- 
rance to be the stumbling-block to the exaltation of our minds 
and the extension of our usefulness to man 1 No ! rather let it be 
said, that so forcibly has this subject, of late years, been stamped 
upon our minds, that we are determined to exert ourselves in 
every branch of study necessary to perfect us in the exercise of 
our art. 
I, however, taking into consideration the value of the horse 
when living, and his comparative valueless carcass when dead, 
am of opinion that, in a practical point of view, he must ever form 
the prominent subject for our consideration, and thus, as it were, 
be referred to by us as the standard for many of our comparative 
remarks. 
He is, indeed, a noble animal ; and whether we look upon him 
in his domestic condition, or contemplate him in his wild state, 
the symmetry of his form, the vivid expression of his features, 
and his immense physical strength, are alike calculated to rivet 
our attention and excite our admiration. The elevation of his 
head, the inclination of his withers, the obliquity of his shoulders, 
the expansion of his nostrils — so intimately connected with his 
powers of endurance — the form and structure of his feet, and 
the elasticity of his progressive movements, combined with his 
willing disposition, would seem to imply that he was specially 
intended for man’s service ; yet, with all these attributes, taken 
from his native plains into a state of subjugation and compelled 
to travel on the hard roads, his feet would become broken, and 
he would be rendered comparatively useless, were it not for the 
aid of art in the application of a protective agent to his hoof. 
