484 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
some who are now present, the veterinary profession has developed from 
an apparently insignificant beginning in a few of the Eastern cities 
until now its representatives are found in all sections of the country. 
There could be no better demonstration of this fact than the gathering 
here on the banks of the Missouri River of the many gentlemen, from 
the East and the West, from the North and from the South, who will 
contribute to the interest and success of this meeting. 
As the executive of this association, I congratulate you upon the 
knowledge which we have just acquired, that we can meet here, in what 
many of us have considered a far Western city, and not only receive a cor¬ 
dial greeting, but find ourselves surrounded by sympathetic members of 
our own profession. And I congratulate the citizens of this great State 
that there are located here so many competent veterinarians, whose life- 
work it is, not only to prevent and cure the maladies of the domesti¬ 
cated animals, but to guard the health of the people from the many dis¬ 
uses which they may acquire by contact with such animals or by consum¬ 
ing as food the various kinds of animal products. The veterinarian has 
evidently made a place for himself on these fertile prairies where horses, 
cattle, sheep and swine multiply in such profusion and develop in such 
perfection ; but he has just begun his work and the more hfs plans 
develop, and the better his efforts and aims are understood the more 
will he be esteemed and appreciated. In the closing years of this cen¬ 
tury, which has been so wonderful in scientific progress and achieve¬ 
ment, there is nothing more remarkable than the influence which the 
study of animal diseases has had upon the advancement of human 
medicine, and the resources which the investigators of this subject have 
laid at the feet of suffering humanity. The elucidation of the nature 
of contagion ; the establishment of scientific disinfection ; the develop¬ 
ment of aseptic surgery ; the introduction of bacterial products, vac¬ 
cines, animal extracts and antitoxins for the treatment of various dis¬ 
eases are well-known examples. 
THE MICROBES OF CONTAGIOUS PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 
The study of the contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle has during 
the past year revealed a realm of life beyond the reach of the most pow¬ 
erful microscope. For years pathologists have searched for the microbe 
of this disease without success, and now we learn that their failure was 
largely due to the fact that this microbe is so extremely small that even 
the perfect microscopes of the present day are not sufficient to enable 
the observer to make out its form and dimensions. The ingenious meth¬ 
ods of investigation which were adopted in these researches appear to 
be free from flaws, and we must, therefore, accept the fact that there are 
living organisms far more minute than have heretofore been recognized ; 
and that, indeed, there is a world of life that the microscope is power¬ 
less to reveal, just as we have long known of a world that our unaided 
vision could not detect. 
The bearing of this discovery upon future researches is manifest. 
There are still numerous communicable diseases of which the active 
cause has escaped the search of our most able investigators. We have 
here another clue to these problems, and without doubt they will all 
finally be resolved by the perseverence and resourcefulness of the mod¬ 
ern student. 
