372 
W. H. HOSHINS. 
in the broader light of the to-day, are weaving a web of 
knowledge, a chain of evidence fraught with importance to¬ 
ward unraveling the mysteries operating in the causation 
and perpetuation of disease, that makes strong the hope that 
we are stepping upon a plane of action that will materially 
add to the prolongation of life, and give greater immunity 
from the pain and suffering of disease. The lecoided coin¬ 
cidences of a multiple of cases of some one disease, peihaps 
of a hitherto obscure nature, as to the causes operating in its 
production, have contributed such significant evidence that 
experimental researches have made conclusive the deduc¬ 
tions therefrom, and the number of cases of tetanus occur¬ 
ring in the future must be lessened to a marked degree. 
The operation of castration in the lower animals ; where 
a non-aseptic instrument, or an improperly prepaied series 
of instruments, have resulted in a large percentage of deaths, 
usually attributed to some local cause, as of tetanus, the out 
come of a dirty knife or ecraseur, from which the germs of 
tetanus have been carried from animal to animal, and the lack 
of proper antiseptics caused the loss of many lives, that 
should have been saved and perpetuated, to add to man’s 
pleasure and enjoyment of life. The simple scratch upon 
the hand, insignificant as it may seem, has already cost the 
lives of many of our members, through the opening it offeied 
for the entrance of the bacillus tetanus, from the patient it 
so often falls to our lot to treat. 
The statement made so recently by so eminent an inves¬ 
tigator as Thomassein that tetanus was of equine origin, 
and that he had produced a series of cases experimen¬ 
tally from actions of the medulla oblongata of the horse, 
startles us with its importance, and the long contended fact 
that the stable and manure pit especially were a favorable 
habitat and field of development for the germs, calls us to a 
field of responsibilities as veterinarians, that can no longer be 
ignored, and demands from each of us some part in the work 
to be done, to make conclusive these deductions, that we may 
find for them a remedy and safeguard, or to prove beyond 
any question their incorrectness. 
