AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 
135 
ticularly iiv the horse, on those overworked portions of it, the 
lung’s and the feet. A knowledge, likewise, of natural history, 
comparative anatomy, the principles of agriculture, botany, 
the nutritive and medicinal, the healthful or deleterious proper¬ 
ties of every grass, and almost every plant, are indispensable to 
the perfectly qualified veterinary practitioner. 
I mention these things to shew you, that, whatever deficiency 
there may yet be in the education and acquirements of some 
veterinarians, and the consequent disrepute into which the pro¬ 
fession may have fallen, “ it requires,’ 1 in the language of the 
immortal John Hunter, in his sketch of the foundation of the 
Veterinary College, “ the sacrifice of as many years to become 
a- skilful veterinarian as a skilful physician. Ihe practice of 
each is a task sufficient to engage one mans life ; the contrary 
opinion being a portion of that ancient error which, while medi¬ 
cine was regarded as the province of the learned and the few r , 
supposed the veterinary art on a level with the most ordinary 
capacity. The inferiority of the latter consists not in the arts 
themselves, but in the relative importance of their respective 
subjects; and it deserves to be considered as a distinguished 
science, occupying an eminent station in the scale of natural 
knowledge. 11 
Few things will contribute more to confirm the assertions, or 
rather, accomplish the predictions, of this great and good man, 
the early and strenuous friend of the veterinary art, than this 
liberal, and I trust I have shewn not injudicious, admission of 
veterinary anatomy, physiology, and pathology, among the 
branches of medical and general education. 
I would now r beg to address myself to medical practitioners 
and students, and to solicit their attention to the subjects on 
which these lectures will treat. The anatomy and physiology 
and diseases of domestic animals are, at least, kindred branches 
of those studies to which they are compelled to devote many 
a year. The surgeon must make himself acquainted with the 
structure of every organ before he can understand its proper 
healthy function. While he is thus laboriously employed, will 
it be no relaxation, no pleasure, to trace the structure of the 
same organs in the animals that are daily presenting themselves 
to his notice? Will not the difference of structure in them, 
while it interests him in the examination, indelibly imprint on his 
mind the peculiarity of structure in the human being? And 
while, emergingfrom anatomy, he proceeds to tread the delight¬ 
ful paths of physiology, and observes the beautiful adaptation 
of structure in the organs of the human being to the functions 
they are destined to perform, will any relaxation from severer 
