332 
W. H. DALRYMPLE. 
cial or economic value. Our plants receive their nourishment 
through their agency; our butter is flavored by them; the ripening 
of the cream to make our butter, and the ripening of our cheese 
are all phenomena brought about by fermentation, the work of 
micro-organismal life, and so on, The study of bacteria, then, 
in which there is a life-work for the naturalist, is also embraced 
in the educational curriculum of the veterinarian ; but in this, 
as in other branches of work, to become thoroughly informed, lie 
must specialize, and this is not convenient in every case. Bac¬ 
teriology, however, is one of, if not the most important branch 
of medical science, and is just as valuable and necessary in its 
application to veterinary sanitary science, as it is in its relation 
to health and disease amongst the human family. 
But, besides the requirements of a familiarity with this most 
important group of parasites belonging to the vegetable king¬ 
dom (phytoparasites), there are three sections of the animal 
kingdom containing parasites (zooparasites) of the domestic ani¬ 
mals, some of which, from a pathologic standpoint, may be con¬ 
sidered of almost equal importance, for the reason that some of 
the members of at least one of the sections, in certain stages of 
their life-history, are not only pathogenic in the lower animals, 
but in the human family also. I refer to the protozoa, the en- 
tozoa, and arthropodes. Here, again, we have a study which fur¬ 
nishes an abundance of material for the naturalist along special 
lines. 
When touching upon the subject of botany, I made general 
allusion to parasitic vegetable fungi. I might here make special 
of one or two groups with which we come in contact in the 
study and practice of comparative pathology, \ iz.. 
(1) The dermatophytes, as the tricophyton tonsurans, and 
the achorion schonleinii, which live on the skin ; the former 
producing toenia tonsurans, or common ringworm, the latter, 
favus or honeycomb ringworm. 
(2) The saccharomycetes, as the odium albicans, which infest 
the upper portions of the digestive canal, and produce what is 
known as parasitic stomatitis; also the saccharomycetes gut- 
