682 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
AFTERNOON SESSION. 
Association called to order at i p.m. 
The Secretary read several letters and telegrams from ab¬ 
sent members, expressing regrets for non-attendance. 
The President presented the following address: 
Gentlemen : Since the organization of scientific bodies such as this it has 
invariably been the custom for the presiding officer to base the subject of his 
annual address upon matters of recent scientific research pretaining to the pro¬ 
fession. 
But owing to the fact that the programme for this meeting promises to sup¬ 
ply ample material of this nature, I feel that I may be permitted to deviate 
somewhat from the established precedent, and instead calling your attention to 
the growing necessities for professional advancement, and endeavor to point out 
some of the means by which we may more effectually promote the welfare of 
our patrons and the laity in general, thus enabling them to appreciate in a cor¬ 
rect manner the value of the veterinary profession and to realize to what a great 
extent they are reliant upon this profession for the preservation of human health 
from a sanitary standpoint. Having this aim in view we should at this meeting 
discuss the necessity of stricter sanitary legislation, and formulate such resolu¬ 
tions as would tend to remedy the present deficiencies in our State laws. 
For some time past it has become evident that some of the sanitary laws of 
this State require revising and amending in such a manner as to keep pace with 
the rapid and important advances made in medical science. It is true that in 
many respects this has already been accomplished through the increasing efforts 
of our State Board of Health, and that the laws now in existence have been carried 
©ut to their full intent, notwithstanding the repeated and almost insurmountable 
obstacles with which the Board has had to contend. But in order that the 
members of the Board of Health, and those acting under them, may effectually 
cope with all and every class of sanitary conditions, it is eminently necessary 
that such laws as have proved ineffectual should receive the earnest attention of 
our next Legislature, and proper measures be taken to revise and amend such 
sections as are found inadequate or void of beneficial results. 
At the present time there is a law in existence which is both absolutely 
worthless and detrimental to the public health, as well as being productive of 
an immense annual pecuniary loss to the live stock industry of the whole State. 
I allude to Chapter 79, Laws of the Twenty-first General Assembly. At the 
time this law was passed the nature of hog cholera was not very well under¬ 
stood ; owing to this fact a most unfortunate provision was made, allowing the 
owner of animals which had died from the effects of the disease to dispose of 
the carcasses, either by burning or burying them to a depth of not less than thirty 
inches. 
According to the more recent investigations it has been proved that the 
burying of cholera hogs is a disastrous mistake, owing to the fact that the virus 
producing the disease increases in strength and severity through the medium of 
earthy matters, and that where hogs in this condition are allowed to be buried a 
