ADDRESS. 
i 
6 
nite cause, and a particular progress and termination, and is 
known by its signs and effects, as much so as the natural 
actions going on in the living body. All these things you have 
studied, and with them you have been taught the instruments and 
remedies of the veterinary art, and how to use them to the 
best purpose. 
You have also had the indispensable advantage of clinical 
instruction. It is one tiling to read about a disease, or to hear of 
it in a lecture, and another thing to have it shown to you, so that 
you will know it yourselves when you see it afterward. This is 
true in all the departments of medical study—in anatomy, in 
physiology, in pathology and in practice. Reading about a thing 
or hearing of it, to be sure, is- better than nothing; and the stu¬ 
dent must always begin in that way. But when he has once 
seen the thing, and seen it intelligently, he knows it in a very 
different way from what he did before. Then he appreciates it 
as a reality; and beside that, it is impressed on his memory, so 
that he could not forget it if he tried. I have no doubt that you 
remember your clinical instruction in the Veterinary Hospital as 
among the most valuable and lasting benefits derived from your 
whole course of education. 
I presume that I hardly need to congratulate you on the kind 
of work you have chosen for the business of your lives. Any¬ 
thing as useful and important as Veterinary Medicine and Sur¬ 
gery is abundantly worthy the best attention of its practitioners. 
But it has some features which make it particularly attractive. 
The largest portion of your practical skill will be called in requis¬ 
ition for the treatment of the horse ; and this noblest and most 
valuable of the domesticated animals will be the principal object 
of your care. Ever since literature and poetry existed, he has 
been the object of praise for his strength, symmetry, speed, and 
docility. He is the companion of man as well as his servant, and 
his qualities have always commanded our interest and admiration. 
I do not think that the horse, as compared with other animals, 
has a very high degree of general intelligence. His capacities 
are limited in direction, and confined, for the most part, to mat¬ 
ters connected with his useful employment. But he makes up 
