622 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
change, and if you appeal with confidence to it, your appeal 
must ultimately succeed. Next to the daily watching of cases 
of disease, noting the progress, change, or alleviation of the 
symptoms, nothing will tend so much to the advancement of 
your knowledge of pathology as the making of post-mortem 
examinations. This, which is designated pathological ana¬ 
tomy, unveils things which had been shrouded in mystery, 
and brings to the clear light of vision that which had pre¬ 
viously been only obscurely discerned. Pathological anatomy, 
in reality, holds in relation to disease the same connexion as 
normal anatomy does to the understanding of the structure 
of the body. As veterinary surgeons, we here stand on van¬ 
tage ground. Few objections are ever made to our autopsies; 
nay, they are not unfrequently insisted upon to test the value 
of the diagnosis; for there are no kind friends to consult, 
whose grief is poignant at the loss they have sustained, nor 
are our humane feelings wounded by the surgeon’s knife 
laying bare the internal organs of the body. 
The knowledge thus gained becomes indelibly fixed upon 
the mind; and the more it is reflected upon, in relation to 
the symptoms, the more valuable it becomes. As a future 
guide and counsellor, it is often of the utmost worth ; for it 
will guard you in great measure against the temptation of 
expressing too freely an opinion at first sight of the nature of 
a disease. Post-mortem examinations are by some too much 
neglected, being instituted only in rare and unusual cases. 
This is an error akin to that of watching such cases only, 
and disregarding the information which is to be obtained 
from the more common forms of disease. “ Every case, in¬ 
deed, if well observed, will yield instruction—this for its 
rarity, that for its frequency.” 
From these remarks it will be inferred that pathology, to 
some extent, admits of a division into two parts—the one in¬ 
cluding special or particular affections, the other general or 
common ones. 
Special affections are not, however, to be viewed altogether 
as rarities. On the contrary, they are frequently the most 
common, as well as the widest-spread, maladies with which 
we have to deal. The rapidity of their attack, and the extent 
of their existence, often excite our liveliest attention, while 
the fatality that marks their progress causes our deepest 
anxiety. This is especially the case both with epizootic and 
enzootic affections—a fact which reminds me of the pro¬ 
priety of saying a few words upon some of the diseases which 
have prevailed among our domesticated animals during the 
past year. 
The influence of a continuous hot or cold temperature, a 
