326 
EDITORIAL 
and what disposition shall be made of it, arc questions not as vet 
determined. Shall it be made a dependency of the Agricultural 
Department, an adjunct of the National Board of Health, or an 
independent department by itself, are the propositions made 
by various advocates who entertain different views as to proper 
organizations. ' They who believe in acting with the Agricultural 
Department, claim that the subject is one whose interests are 
closely allied to agriculture, and consequently that this depart¬ 
ment should direct the work. But while this is true in part 
the relationship of the interests at stake—it must not be forgotten 
that the scientific investigation of the cause and means or pre¬ 
vention of animal diseases is a matter entirely independent of 
agricultural pursuits. Furthermore, it is very generally believed 
in most quarters, that under the present regime the Agricultural 
Department would fail to give such attention to the matter as the 
subject urgently demands. With many, and among them oui- 
selves, the National Board of Health seems to be the most appro¬ 
priate department of our Government with which to organize a 
special bureau such as is contemplated. When we consider the 
intimate relationship existing between many of the preventable 
diseases of man and the lower animals; when we recall the fact 
that disease-producing causes operate similarly in the different 
species, and that many of the special diseases of the brute crea¬ 
tion offer questions of unequalled importance to the investigator 
of human ailments by virtue of the susceptibility of their trans¬ 
mission, we must admit the propriety of being associated with a 
department whose object is in exact consonance with our own, 
and the attainment of which is to be reached through the self¬ 
same channels. 
But there are a few who advocate the formation of an inde¬ 
pendent Veterinary Bureau, unconnected with any department 
already organized, and while there may not be any insurmount¬ 
able or even any serious objections to such a procedure, we much 
doubt, if such efficiency could bo obtained in labor expended, as 
would be guaranteed by the co-operation of the scientific mem¬ 
bers of the National Board of Health. 
Important as these questions are in their bearing upon the 
