Introductory lecture ... at the opening of the session 1875-76 of the Edinburgh Royal Veterinary College, 27th October 1875 / by John G. McKendrick, M.D., F.R.S.E.

  • McKendrick, John G. (John Gray), 1841-1926.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory lecture ... at the opening of the session 1875-76 of the Edinburgh Royal Veterinary College, 27th October 1875 / by John G. McKendrick, M.D., F.R.S.E. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    the difficulties just alluded to. This can more especially be done in connection with an institution where students as- semble for instruction. Here examples of disease among the domestic animals may be met with at all stages. Morbid processes occurring in these present much the same charac- teristics as in the human being. Inflammation, the develop- ment of tubercle and cancer, the action of the various poisons which cause fevers and other zymotic diseases, follow much the same course in these animals as in men. It is therefore in our power artificially to produce certain of these diseases, to watch them from their origin, to trace their development, to note the changes and symptoms which they produce, and also to observe the effects of various counteracting agents. Thus only can we arrive at correct knowledge concerning these maladies, and of the remedies to be applied. The lower animals are so much under the influence of man that it is possible so to modify their conditions during a state of disease as to enable us to get at a proper method of treatment. Imagine a series of animals suffering from foot- and-mouth disease. They may be killed to arrest the spread of the contagion. But may they not be placed in different stalls, and subjected to various remedies under various condi- tions ? If we obtained any clue to the nature of the disease, may we not inoculate fresh animals, and study the action of the virus in these, so as to clear away doubts, and arrive at the truth ? Hew discoveries have usually a wider range and influence than at first anticipated. We may therefore expect that exact knowledge regarding the cause, natural history, and rational treatment of even one contagious disease among the lower animals would throw a flood of light on similar maladies in the human being. I feel that I am here approaching ground which may be regarded as somewhat dangerous. The mind of a not uninfluential section of the public is at present excited re-
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