INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
639 
Lectures on this division of science prepare the mind to 
receive and understand the phenomena of disease, and the 
effects of the agents administered for its cure. If the mind 
is already prepared by an experienced pioneer for what it 
may expect to witness, how much more readily, do you think, 
will it be enabled to drink in real knowledge ? 
Veterinary Medical Jurisprudence, although not forming 
a separate course of lectures, will be dwelt upon on particular 
occasions. It may be viewed as one of the most important 
divisions of the curriculum, or the most responsible depart¬ 
ment in the profession, for it certainly is one that requires the 
most varied attainments. It connects very closely medicine 
with legislation, and no doubt that its origin, like other laws, 
has arisen out of the frauds and vices of men. As vices 
become more common, the law becomes more rigid and ener¬ 
getic in finding out the perpetrators. To accomplish the 
end of the law, the veterinary surgeon is often called upon to 
examine parts, for the purpose of ascertaining the real or 
supposed cause of death, so as to give evidence in courts of 
justice. Many cases of supposed poisoning require the 
forensic anatomist and also the toxicologist (both divisions 
of medical jurisprudence) to investigate them. Morbid 
Anatomy is requisite, and also the all-powerful aid of Che¬ 
mistry. 
The anatomist may detect lesions which would lead him to 
conclude that the animal had taken poison; but upon what 
grounds does he base his opinion? Why, the correspondence 
of those lesions to what he had before witnessed or read of, 
when certain agents capable of destroying life had been de¬ 
tected. The conclusion thus arrived at may, in the minds of 
some, be sufficient; but I think we ought to hesitate in 
making such a statement, except for the purpose of sug¬ 
gesting the advisability of employing some more definite 
means of ascertaining the fact, such as the aid of chemistry. 
Other cases of actual poisoning may come under the notice 
of the anatomist, in which he searches in vain for any altera¬ 
tion in structure even sufficient to excite in his mind a sus¬ 
picion. In such an instance, however, there may have been 
strong pathological indications that some deleterious agent 
had been taken into the system, and the toxicologist is 
therefore engaged. He carefully investigates the suspected 
agents, and some powerful alkaloid is detected whose action 
would produce symptoms analogous to those observed before 
death. Here we see, beyond dispute, a blending of the 
sciences to the advantage of our profession and also the 
public. The veterinary surgeon will do w r rong, in my 
