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388 CORRESPONDENCE. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE PROGRESS OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
To the Editor of the American Veterinary Review : 
Dear Sir : A feeling of gratification, which I am sure will be shared 
by every one of your readers, induces me to ask you to publish the en¬ 
closed extract from the Medical Examiner : 
At last, after leaving for centuries this branch of medical science 
to drag itself along, scarcely recognized among the liberal professions, 
the University of Oxford “proposes to establish a chair of general and 
comparative pathology,” an example which will doubtless be followed 
by other universities, both in the Old and New Worlds. As will be 
seen, the Examiner intends devoting a certain space in their columns 
to comparative pathology and medicine, being convinced, “now that 
veterinary medicine is established on a scientific basis, the the time has 
come when the bonds which unite the students and practitioners of 
human and veterinary medicine should be knit more closely, and the 
two branches brought into more intimate relationship.” 
This grand progressive step cannot but be productive of incalcula¬ 
ble benefits to our common science. Yours faithfully, 
D. McEachran. 
COMPARATIVE PATHOLOGY AND MEDICINE. 
As a knowledge of comparative anatomy and physiology is essential 
to enable us to understand the structure and mechanism of man, so it is 
necessary for us to carry our researches into the diseases of animals and 
plants before we can unravel the complex phenomena of disease in the 
more highly evolved human being. And, as much of our exact knowl¬ 
edge of the phenomena of healthy life, or physiology, has been obtained 
by observation and experiment upon the lower animals, true scientific 
pathology, or a knowledge of the phenomena of disease, must be based 
upon the study ol diseases and morbid processes occurring in other 
animals besides man. It is a recognition of this fact that has led to the 
proposed establishment of a Chair of General and Comparative Pathology 
at Oxford—a university which has been foremost in promoting the 
science of biology. There are many reasons why animal pathology and 
medicine should precede or accompany the study of human medicine. 
Living under more simple conditions—conditions more approaching 
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