Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1870 [PAGE 204]

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Welfare, that it is judicious to separate them and treat them as a special study. The principles of Horse-shoeing, based on Anatomy and Physiology, belong also in the department of Veterinary Science, and are of no little importance, especially as but very few horse-shoers understand anything of the construction of the horse's foot, and make, therefore, the grossest mistakes and cause many a lameness. This study includes also the diseases of the horse's hoof and their treatment. The auxiliary studies are: Zoology, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Botany. Of these, Chemistry is a necessary and important auxiliary to Physiology, Pathology, Pharmacology and Hygieina; Botany, to Pharmacology and Hygieina; Natural Philosophy, to Anatomy, Physiology and Exterior; and Zoology aids to the studies of Exterior and Breeding. But as these studies are taught in any university and in every well conducted college, it is not necessary for me to say any more about them, and can go over to answer my second question. Second. Is it necessary for a farmer, who wants to advance in his profession, to study Veterinary Science ? I think it is; and not only that, but I think it must be also exceedingly pleasing to an intelligent farmer to have studied and to be acquainted with the organism and the process of life of his noble horse, his valuable cattle, his useful swine and his fine sheep; to know the laws which govern their health, and to be enabled to render help and assistance in cases of disease to those of his fellow creatures who are, next to human beings, the noblest part of God's creation on earth, our domestic animals, the most precious gift God gave to man; it is but for them that we are a civilized people; nay, more, that we are able to exist. No country in the world is as rich in stock, in proportion to its population, as this country of ours. In our own State, soil and" climate are well adapted to stock raising, and make it a prominent and very important branch of farming. The domestic animals in our great Prairie State are very numerous, and, concerning quality, perhaps better than in many of our neighboring States at least at the last St. Louis fair our Illinois stock received more blue ribbons than all the other stock combined. Our domestic animals represent a value of many millions of dollars; we have among our horses different very fine breeds for every kind of service ; among our neat cattle several herds which, if not superior, are at least equal to any herd in the world; we have breeds of fine sheep for any purpose ; and our various breeds of swine need not fear any comparison with the best ones in England, and still the Veterinary Science is so much neglected. The veterinary practice is, with a few exceptions, entirely in the hands of quacks, horse jockeys and ignorant blacksmiths. Maltreatment kills in this country more valuable animals than there die by diseases. Contagious diseases often spread till they become a public calamity, because their nature is not early enough understood; so called horse doctors treat contagious and incurable diseases without taking the least precaution; so, for example, glanders and farcy, till other animals have been infected. But enough of this; every one knows it, and it is not necessary for me to tell. A great many farmers endeavor to improve their stock; many a one spends