131 BOTANY AS APPLIED TO VETERINARY SCIENCE. 
exhibited in the vegetable world, and see “her simple, grand, 
yet unobtrusive excellence/’ Its pursuits will be found an 
agreeable relaxation from our ordinary professional labours, 
and tend to promote health both of body and mind. We 
shall have here no gloomy dissecting room, noxious with the 
effluvia of decomposing animal matter; no reeking muscle; 
no torturing vivisections, or unnecessary destruction of 
animal life, to contend with ; but the fresh pure air of heaven 
will surround us, and the green carpet of nature will be 
spread out for our investigations. Our researches, also, can 
be carried on at all seasons. The awaking beauties of spring, 
the splendours of summer, the falling leaf of autumn, and 
the sleep of winter, will each furnish a succession of changes 
for our study and inquiries; and as we continue to 
acquire a knowledge of the science, we cannot fail to become 
acquainted with the great perfection exhibited by nature in 
some of her simplest forms. Every blade of grass, every 
weed we tread beneath our feet, is endowed with a wondrous 
organization and principle of life, and fulfils its minor yet 
important part in the economy of nature, as assigned to it 
by its great and all-wise Author. Thus, whether we look 
into the animal, the vegetable, or the mineral kingdom, and 
investigate the gradations and changes which are constantly 
going on in each, we shall find them all but so many links 
in that mighty chain of being, which had its commencement 
at the morning dawn of creation, and will continue in un¬ 
broken perfection to its close. A science, then, which teaches 
these things cannot be unprofitable or unworthy of our 
pursuit. 
It will awaken a spirit of deeper research, of more minute 
investigation ; it will enrich the understanding, elevate the 
mind, and purify the taste; it will tend to make us respected 
as a body, and to be sought after by all classes of society, as 
ornaments of the great and noble profession to which we 
belong. 
In my foregoing remarks I have attempted to point out 
some of the important uses of botany to the veterinary 
surgeon, both in a practical and scientific view ; I will now 
bring the subject more clearly to bear, by offering some obser¬ 
vations upon those indigenous plants which are more com¬ 
monly brought under the notice of the veterinary surgeon. 
In doing this, my remarks to those who may be acquainted 
with the science may be considered somewhat simple, but I 
shall endeavour throughout to make them as plain and 
devoid of technicalities as possible, my object being to render 
the subject clear, interesting, and instructive, to a class of 
