AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 7 
* X 
high in veterinary history, not only from the circumstance of his 
having been the Founder of the Art in this country, but from 
his having left behind him a series of observations (with a plan, 
grounded upon them, for the education of students) which, even 
at the present day, are perused with admiration. 
The veterinary art, gentlemen, as a science or object of study, 
has two main supports:—on the one hand, it is supported by a 
knowledge of medicine ; on the other, by a knowledge of that 
animal, in particular, on which medicine is to be practised. 
A knowledge of medicine , in the fullest sense of the word, 
will not only comprise general anatomy, physiology, and patho¬ 
logy, but likewise chemistry and botany, and other useful colla¬ 
teral branches of science; while a knowledge of the animal 
himself will demonstrate the particular application of all this 
medical information, at the same time that it serves to dis¬ 
tinguish medical practitioners of one denomination from those of 
another. What I mean by general anatomy, gentlemen, is, that 
sort of anatomical knowledge which applies to the animal creation 
in general, or, at least, to the more perfected departments or 
orders of it. A general knowledge of hones , and joints, and 
muscles, and bloodvessels, and nerves, will serve as well for a horse 
as for a man ; and for a dog or a hog, as well as either. It is of 
little consequence which of these animals we take as our standard 
or model of perfection : each one, in its way, is as perfect as the 
other; and if one exhibit more complication in one respect than 
another, we shall find those that evince in some other particular 
still further complexity of structure. There will always, however, 
be this advantage attending an acquaintance with the anatomy 
and physiology of many animals ; viz. that we shall find them 
reciprocally and beautifully illustrative one of another, and 
especially when we come to the study of physiology: a science 
which teaches us the uses and operations of parfs of which 
anatomy has shewn us the composition and structure; and which 
consists of a set of laws or first principles equally as applicable 
to one animal as they are to another. 
The third link in the chain of medical acquirements is patho¬ 
logy, or a knowledge of those changes the body sustains from 
disease ; the general laws of which are likewise equally applicable 
to all animals, though, wherever structure and function vary, in 
course this must vary. That which is different in a state of 
health will be different in a state of disease. Thus far, then, will a 
knowledge of what I would call general medicine assist us. Let 
me now explain what is meant to be understood by a knowledge 
of the animal himself. 
Having possessed ourselves of the rudiments—the first or 
