EDITORIAL. 
289 
EDITORIAL. 
VETERINARY SCIENCE. 
A communication from the Agricultural Department in Washing¬ 
ton has recently been directed to many veterinarians in different parts 
of the country. It states that “ desirous to make investigation into the 
causes of diseases of farm animals, statistics of symptoms, remedies 
and prevention in all the different classes of animals, would be kindly 
received at the department.” The object of this information being to 
lay it before Congress to obtain an appropriation for such investigation. 
When we first read this notice, it seemed to us that there was in its 
spirit something which indicated that at last the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment was becoming aware of the importance of veterinary medicine, 
and that the day had come when that essential branch of agriculture 
was about to receive its full appreciation at the hands of our honored 
Acting Commissioner. This, no doubt, might have been a correct im¬ 
pression, as, so far as we knew, it was the first time that veterinarians 
all over the country were called upon to give their opinion on a subject 
where the whole community was interested. True, Prof. Gamgee had 
been appointed by the general government to investigate the disease 
known as Texas fever, but that was a personal appointment; in no other 
case had a large number of veterinarians been asked to give their opin¬ 
ion or the result of their observation. This communication is, there¬ 
fore, a fact worth noticing in the history and in the advancement of 
veterinary science in America. 
On second thought, we asked ourselves, of what good would it be 
to carry on these investigations ? Are not veterinarians well acquainted 
to-day with the history, symptoms, etiology, pathology, and treatment, 
curative and preventive, of most all the diseases to which our farm ani¬ 
mals are subject ? Are not pleuro-pneumonia, foot and mouth disease, 
anthrax, glanders, tuberculosis, etc., etc., well known to all of us ? The 
literature of France, Germany, and of England, also, is well provided 
with excellent works giving upon these diseases all the scientific inform¬ 
ation which is necessary to protect us from their fatal influence, and, we 
repeat it, what can we gain from these investigations ? Of what bene¬ 
fit will they be to the general public ? 
But let us suppose a moment that they would be useful ; let us 
