HUMAN AND ANIMAL VARfOLyE. 
185 
regard to variola in animals, and, indeed, of all animal disorders 
which are communicable to mankind, and vice versa. The dis¬ 
cussions which took place at the meetings of the conference 
afforded another proof of the necessity of instituting what I 
have for years maintained should form a branch of medical study 
—a chair of comparative pathology at each of our medical 
schools. Surely a knowledge of animal diseases, in their relation 
to those of our own species, is of far more moment to the sur¬ 
geon or physician in the practice of his profession, than an ac¬ 
quaintance with zoology or comparative anatomy. Such chairs 
are established in nearly all, if not all, Continental medical 
schools, in which their value has long been recognized. Why is 
it, then, that we are so slow or so unwilling to adopt what is so 
manifestly and so urgently required in order to complete the stu¬ 
dent’s education, and to render him a more useful and enlightened 
member of society. 
From the opinions expressed at the conference, as well as else¬ 
where, I gather that the view is largely entertained among medi¬ 
cal men in this country, that human and bovine variola, or 
vaccinia, are one and the same disease: the latter being depend¬ 
ent for its origin and maintenance upon the former, though under¬ 
going a certain and special modification in the passage of its virus 
through the organism of. the ox; so that, when re-transplanted 
in the human species, it is no longer small-pox, though it offers 
protection, partially or wholly, permanently or temporarily, 
against an attack of that malady. 
It would also appear to have been accepted by those present 
at the conference, that there are only two distinct kinds of vari¬ 
ola—one affecting man, and the other the sheep. And one oppo¬ 
nent of animal vaccination, in dwelling upon the dangers likely 
to attend that operation, pointed out the existence of several dis¬ 
eases which, he asserted, bovines are liable to, and which he would 
lead us to infer might be communicated to those vaccinated direct 
from the calf. Among the diseases he enumerated were con- 
tagious pleuro-pneumonia, anthrax, glanders, certain disorders due 
to helminths, and “ entozootic asthma.” 
Now, without at present claiming to be a supporter of animal 
