INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
G70 
skill would have preserved, and even those that recover have 
their cure protracted by the blunders that have been com¬ 
mitted. IIow frequently do these people exclaim, “oh, my 
cattle and sheep are getting better; but they might almost 
as well have died, for they have been so long ill and are so 
wasted, that they will cost more than they are worth to bring 
them into condition again.” 
The late Mr.Youatt, several years since, when describing the 
then degraded state of cattle medicine, observed, “ that there 
are two great sources of the mortality of cattle, of sheep, and 
the loss of agricultural property, and that it is difficult to say 
which is the worst—the ignorance and obstinacy of theservant 
and the cowleach, or the ignorance and supineness of the 
owner.” If this were true, and we fear it w r as and is, also, even 
now far too true, we see that lying at the bottom, being the 
very root of the evil, is a want of education on the part of many 
of the proprietors of these animals, and that, had it been other¬ 
wise, they would have been led to appreciate the resources and 
advantages of science. See, then, the sad consequences wdiich 
must ensue, when, added to the ignorance of the owner, we had 
the total neglect of this important branch in the education of 
the veterinary surgeon. These things, however, are fortu¬ 
nately passing away; and now that their opposites are being 
brought into activity, each succeeding year brightening pros¬ 
pects will be opening to our view. Thus we may say that, 
by the force of circumstances, the improvement in the breed 
and individual value of cattle—their increased numbers—dis¬ 
sipation of the clouds of ignorance—special attention to this 
section of veterinary medicine, and also that national peculi¬ 
arity of saving expense by adopting the best and shortest plan 
to effect an object, are all combined in effecting the happy 
change we have so long desired. 
It will not be out of place here to speak of the part the 
Royal Agricultural Society has taken in furthering this grand 
object. Faithfully and advantageously, from its first foun¬ 
dation, has it supported its motto, “ Practice and Science.” 
Incorporated by royal charter soon after its origin, we find it 
fully alive to the benefits that w T ould accrue from a diminution of 
disease and death among domesticated animals; and therefore, 
among other noble objects, its charter sets forth, that the So¬ 
ciety shall “ take measures for improving the veterinary art, as 
applied to-cattle, sheep, and pigs.” This condition soon led to 
its connecting itself with this institution, and voting annually a 
large sum of money in support of the lectureship which was 
then established within these walls. With a slight interruption, 
the causes of which it is unnecessary to enter upon here. 
