A text-book of the practice of equine medicine / by William Robertson ... Rev. by J. Penberthy.

  • Robertson, William
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A text-book of the practice of equine medicine / by William Robertson ... Rev. by J. Penberthy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    consisting of phenomena actually present or connected with the diseased part; indirect, when such phenomena are absent or developed in some situation remote from the seat of the disease; characteristic, when seen in the same or a similar disease; commemorative, when developed during the course of the disease. They are also spoken of as diagnostic when they lead us to distinguish one disease from another; pathognomic, when peculiar to some particular disease; prognostic, when they enable us to predict the course of the disease. This study of the practice of equine medicine is in reality the recognition of veterinary medicine as an art, inasmuch as it is directed to observe and to ascertain as far as possible the causes, the nature, the means of cure or of alleviation, and the most successful modes of the prevention of disease in the horse. It will be for our advantage, at this particular stage, to recognise and examine those large and general sources of information, those channels through which symptoms of derangement are exhibited and from which signs of disease are collected. By attention to these we shall better under- stand the causes or factors which may have induced this disease, and the localities and textures specially the seats of morbid changes, all of which are needed to qualify us for giving a place to any diseased process or condition in whatever system of nosology we may choose to adopt, as also to form a prognosis of the case or to direct our treatment. Sj'mptoms are valuable, but we must know the manner in which they are to be gathered. We must have some system or method in conducting the clinical examination of our patients, so as to abstract from them the information they are able to yield. No doubt the experienced practitioner can gain his know- ledge of a case of disease in any or in many ways, and probably by the observance of little method; but for all who are only commencing the acquisition of practical knowledge, and who wish to advance, method is all but indispensable. The subjective examination in our patients must of course, if admitted, be a much weaker foundation upon which to build than the objective, which ought in proportion, therefore, to be more thoroughly and carefully carried out. And although it
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