Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/142

* VETERlNAKY MEDICINE. lus VETERINARY MEDICINE. tion, since graduation from an approved school is required for eligibility to membership. As a good example of a four years' veterinary course that recently organized at the Iowa Agri- cultural College may be cited. The entrance re- quirement is a certificate of graduation from an accredited high school, or examination in sub- jects covering an equivalent course. The subjects taught during the veterinary course include the following: Comparative anatomy, histology, physiology-, pharmacy, materia medica, thera- peutics, structural botany, chemistry, poisonous plants, entomology, pathology, bacteriology, phys- ical diagnosis, vertebrate zoology, animal para- sites, animal husbandry, theory and practice of veterinary medicine, "oplithahiiology, surgery, embryology, horse-shoeing, milk inspection, meat inspection, sanitary science, obstetrics, juris- prudence, etc. It will readily be seen that such a course oflTers instruction not only in the sub- jects immediately concerned in veterinary prac- tice, but also in related fields, so that the student receives a roimded, comprehensive education. Within recent years great changes have taken place in 'eterinary practice. In place of the indiscriminate use of firing iron, purgation, and bloodletting, we have a more rational system of treatment on a humane basis. Jloreover, the ex- cessive use of drugs has been abandoned and more attention given to the proper care and diet of animals and to preventive medicine. The course and severity of most diseases may be greatly modified by the iise of pure water and wholesome food in reasonable quantities. Care- ful attention to the temperature and ventilation of stables is also important, especially in the treatment of diseases of the respiratory organs. It is along the line of preventive medicine, how- ever, that the greatest progress has been made. Successful methods of vaccination and immuniza- tion have been devised for the prevention of anthrax, blackleg, hydrophobia, hog cholera, te- tanus, and tuberculosis. (See these articles.) The period of incubation of various diseases has been definitely determined and upon the data thus obtained quarantine regulations for dealing with infectious diseases have been formulated. The im- portance of isolating diseased animals and thor- oughly disinfecting the premises after the occur- rence of animal plagues is well understood. The adoption of such measures tends to restrict the spread of any epizoiitic. Sometimes great losses to the animal industry of a country have been avoided apparently by the application of very drastic methods of eradication, including the de- struction and innocuous disposal of all affected animals. .Such measures are usually accompanied with the payment of an indcnuiity by the Govern- ment. Great advances h.ave recently been made in methods of disinfection by nii'ans of formalin, live steam, lime, copper sulphate, lysol, carbolic acid, and other antiseptics. The development of antisepsis has yielded as important results in veterinary practice as in human surgery. In ordinary veterinary practice, however, the ob- servance of strict antiseptic precautions is an exceedingly difficult matter. In veterinary surgery a m!ch larger propor- tion of operations are made withoul nii;csthesia than in human surgery. It is generally believed that minor operations cause less pain and incon- venience to the animal than the struggles during the process of etherization and the after-effects of ansEsthesia. Ether or chloroform is used in general anaesthesia of the larger animals, and ether alone for cats and dogs. In minor opera- tions and in determining the location of lameness cocaine is extensivelj- used and with satisfactory results. In veterinary practice drugs are ordi- narily administered in the allopathic form, while homceopathy is seldom practiced. Medicines are administered by way of the mouth in the form of balls, boluses, pills, capsules, and drenches; by hypodermic, intratracheal, intravenous, in- tra-abdominal, or intragastric injections; or per rectum in the form of an enema. The actual drugs used in veterinary medicine are for the most part the same as those used in human medicine, and are classified in the same general manner. The doses, however, are usually larger than for man and vary according to the size of the animal. As a rule veterinary dentistry is merely one branch of the ordinary practitioner's work, and is confined almost entirely to equine practice. There are but few locations where there is de- mand for specialists to devote their whole time to this work. Decayed molars are usually pulled from the side by trephining the maxillary bone. Some horses require frequent attention to their teeth on account of the tendency to develop sharp points and other irregularities. The importance of veterinary science to animal industry can scarcely be overestimated. The veterinary inspection and quarantine service makes it possible to injport high-bred stock from foreign countries without danger of introducing infectious diseases among the home herds. The im- provement of the dairy and beef industries in the Southern States was not possible imtil a method was discovered for imnumizing Northern cattle to Texas fever. Before this w-as accomplished high-bred dairy and beef cattle were not im- ported into the South, for the reason that from 70 to 90 per cent, of them died after ex- posure to infection. In South Africa the method of bile inoculation devised by Koch has greatly reduced the losses from rinder])est, and put the business of cattle-raising on a stable basis. As long a.s animals aflfected with tuberculosis had to be destroyed the improvement of our dairy and beef herds was a difficult and expen- sive matter. The Bang method for controlling tuberculosis, however, makes it possible to utilize full-blooded tuberculous animals for breeding purposes without danger to the future of the herd. In short, animal industry in its present proportions, particularly the production of blooded stock, is inqmssible without the ex- istence of an effective veterinary service. The relation of this service to human health is best shown in the inspection of milk and meat. Since many diseases are considered intertrans- niissible between man and animals, it is deemed necessary to exercise some control of the milk and meat sujiply. The imjHirtanee of sanitary regu- lation of the trafiic in milk and meat is grad- ually gaining the recognition of legislators, and inspection of these jirodiicts is reqiiired in !Mon- tana. New York, and Pennsylvania, and in many large cities. In Germany there is a federal in- spection of all meat and meat products, and in the United States export meat is inspected by the