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THE VETERINARIAN AS A NATURALIST. 
Being brought daily in contact with pathologic conditions, 
a knowledge of zootomy alone would avail the veterinarian but 
little, w ithout an acquaintance with normal function. Hence, a 
knowledge of physiology is absolutely imperative. And, while 
human physiology is confined to the vital phenomena of man 
alone, comparative physiology treats, also, of the functions of 
animals below man, with a consideration of the means by which 
different functions are accomplished by different animal forms. 
And, it is only necessary to allude to the animals included in 
the orders previously mentioned, to give some idea of the extent 
of the knowledge required of the veterinarian on this subject. 
e But > alt hough a familiarity with structure and function is of 
prime importance to the student, he would be poorly equipped 
did he not possess a knowledge of the various fuel materials, in 
the form of foods, to run his machine. Foods are, of course, 
usually dealt with under the head of physiology, but what I de¬ 
sire to bring out here, is, that on account of the greater number 
of the animals with which the veterinarian has to deal, belong¬ 
ing to the herbivora, and therefore bringing him in close touch 
with the vegetable world, the study of botany is essential to an 
intelligent understanding of the subject. 
I fancy there is, perhaps, a tendency on the part of some of 
our medical colleges, both human and veterinary, to disregard 
this subject, or, at all events, limit it to pharmaceutical botany. 
There are, however, some of our American schools, and I think, 
the great majority of the European schools, that give quite an 
extended course, embracing both the phanerogamia and the 
cryptogamia; their morphology, physiology, classification, etc. 
This is another study in the curriculum of the veterinarian 
which opens up to him an interesting field as a naturalist. But, 
although his botanical information, on leaving college, may be 
extensive, he has, as a rule, by force of circumstances, to limit 
the greater part of that information to the more economic pur¬ 
poses for which his daily professional work calls. This would 
include the natural orders to which the more common food crops 
belong, such as: Graminiae, leguminosse, cruciferae, solanacce, 
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