Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-09-09

The American Veterinary Medical asso-
cation of the United States is now in
session at San Francisco. This associa-
ton has a membership of about 1000
OF the 1000 veterinarians in the United
States who are eligible 1t is probable
that no other profession in the United
States is less crowded than that of the
veterinarian. There are only about 20
sch ools teaching veterinary medicine in
! the country, and only 10 Of these are
sufficiently thorough to entitle their
graduate students to take the civil serv-
ice examination under the United States
bureau of animal industry for the va
rious government positions to be filled
by veterinarians. There are more than
| 200, 100000 domestic animals in the
United States, not including cats, dogs
| or poultry. Yet there are only 1000
students in the veterinary schools of the
country. On the other hand, while
there are 90,000,0 900 people in the United
States, there are nearly $4,000 students
Of medicine.
Before 1891 the practice Of veterinary
medicine was given over largely to
blacksmiths and rural horse doctors,
Z none Of whom had more than very
| slight smpiric knowledge of the dis
eases Of domestic animals. In that
| year the dSSOCldLlOn duOpIcu
ment that to be eligible TO membership
an applicant must have been graduated
from a school requiring at least three
terms of six months each for it's course
Of study. This tended to give the prac-
tice of veterinary medicine profess
! sionaI standing, and while in recent
years some little difficulty has been ex-
perienced in combating the mushroom
schools that have sprung up in many
/ AR bur- ~
animal industry to recognize only GER
tain schools has tended to overcome this
| evil.
At the last meeting Of the associa-
| ton held in Chicago, strong resolu-
ton was adopted looking to the stamping
out Of hydrophobia. This resolution de-
clares that all dogs running at large
4 should be required to be muzzled, and
that any dog appearing off the prem
| Uses OF it's owner without a properly
adjusted muzzle ought to be shot imme-
diateIy. Another resolution expressed
great faith in the work of the medical
| fraternity with reference to bovine tu-
berculosis, and declared 1t to be the be-
| lief of the veterinary profession that tu-
berculosis in cattle can be transmitted
to human beings, and that the course or
| the Smilk sanitarians of the country
LOOKING LOWdTu the SiOh VI hOOSA
culosis from the milk supply, Is to be
highly commended.
Veterinary medicine has been pursued
as a science since the time Of the an
cient Egyptians and Greeks, although
from the time of the destruction of the
Grecian empire until the establishment
of a veterinary school in Lyons In 1882
the profession was at complete stand
still During the Dark Ages there was
little attempt to carry forward the work
that has been so we'll begun by the
Egyptians and the Greeks. The posi-
bility of the inter-transmission of dis
ease between animal and man was sug-
sested first by Vegetius Renatus, about
the time of the dawning Of the Christian
era, and although he possessed none OF
the equipment which has enabled mod
ern medical men to study the relation
of animal life and disease ne DISCUSS
eo the matter with a thoroughness and
an intelligence that has made his name
a landmark in the history of human and
veterinary medicine.
|
In many parts of Europe and in some
of the important cities of the United
States, hospitals for animals are main
tained. At the London zoo there Is an
infirmary for the treatment Of the deni-
gems of that institution. Lions and tigers
fare treated like cats, while wolves,
hyenas and bears are treated as If they
were overgrown dogs. The rhinoceros re-
spends to the kind of treatment accorded
the horse, while the hippopotamus is
found to demand such therapeutic care
as is given to the pig.
Some veterinary surgeons are paid
highly for their services. One of these
III Alfred SeweTl, canine surgeon to the
king Of England. He wears the regalia
which shows that he holds a position
of no small rank in the royal household,
and often goes to st. Petersburg and
Berlin to prescribe for the pets Of the
car and the kaiser. He is great be-
lever in the rest cure for pets, and
often prescribes a trip to southern Eu-
rope for the dogs and cats of royalty.
On these trips the royal pets are accom-
panied by their retinue of attendants
to make sure that all goes well with their
charges.
It is said that there is a pet cat known
as DIR. Ginger, with headquarters at
Bellevue hospital In New York. The doc
tor had the misfortune to get fish bone
in it's throat, so 1t performed an opera
J ton. known as trachestomy, on its own
throat. The only instruments used were
the claws given 1t by nature, and the
only antiseptic was the frequent lickings
with its own tongue. DR.. Ginger has en-
tirely recovered and stands at the head
OF the list OF animals operating upon
themselves.
Preventive medicine is no less a SCI
ence with the modern veterinarian than
curative medicine, and in the past decade
or two splendid results have been obtain