INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
617 
of practical tact you show in the management of animals; but 
confidence in your opinion and in your treatment of disease 
will, nevertheless, be in proportion to the amount of scientific 
knowledge you prove yourselves to be in possession of. 
I come now to the nature and extent of your studies. It is 
the “freshmen ” who require principally to be told that these 
are manifold; that they embrace no less than an investiga¬ 
tion of the structure of each domesticated animal, the uses 
of the several parts of the organism, the changes to which 
these are exposed by diverted action, the means by which 
this is to be subdued, the history of the agents employed, 
together with their composition, properties, effects, legiti¬ 
mate doses, &c. Besides these, all of you will have to make 
yourselves masters of the principles of surgery, and the 
method of performing operations, as well as with the several 
collateral branches of science, hereafter to be alluded to, 
and which have a greater or less bearing on the principal 
object of your study. 
Anatomy is truly said to form the basis of the fabric 
which has to be reared. Without this foundation to rest 
upon, the whole superstructure of medical knowledge is in 
danger of falling to pieces. It is impossible to speak too 
forcibly of the importance of anatomy, and of the necessity 
which exists for you to devote a considerable portion of your 
time to its investigation. It is in the dissecting-room alone 
where such knowledge can be rightly obtained, and the fa¬ 
cilities which are afforded in this respect to the veterinary 
student contrast strongly with the difficulties which beset 
the progress of the student of human medicine. Our sub¬ 
jects are comparatively of trifling value, easily obtained, 
and can likewise be brought to the table with their organism 
unchanged by the inroads of disease or by natural death. 
These privileges are, however, not to be abused. No jus¬ 
tification can be found for the wanton or unnecessary taking 
away of life. Ever should it be remembered that life, in 
whatever form it is met with, whether in lordly man—the 
highest of earth’s created beings—or in the tiniest monad 
that sports in a drop of water, as in a boundless ocean, 
is the gift of God, and as such deserves our reverence and 
praise, as also our protection. True it is, that in taking the 
life of an animal we take but animal-life, and that no soul 
is thereby hurried into the presence of Deity; still, for 
the reasons before advanced, unnecessary sacrifice must not 
be made. 1 am induced to allude the more particularly to 
this, because I have seen great waste in the dissecting- 
room, and many a subject removed while yet useful for im¬ 
portant purposes. Another reason also remains to be stated, 
