Professor Hering, of Stuttgart, was appointed president of the first meeting and professor Gamgee of Edinburgh acted as vice-president. Professor Gamgee, originator of the congress, spoke of the alarming invasions in Western Europe by cattle and sheep plagues. The spread of these ailments within Britain, were part due to the opening of British ports, in 1842, for foreign cattle. During the twenty years, since the opening of the ports to accept foreign cattle, much stock had been sent westwards, to fetch the higher prices in London and Paris. Professor Gamgee stated that,
“The destruction by disease among cattle, sheep and swine, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, led to an annual money loss of £6,000,000 and that half the money loss was due to the prevalence of contagious pleuro-pneumonia”. The British Isles had lost two head of British cattle for every one imported since 1842. British stock was sent to the colonies and many other countries for the improvement of the breeds, but the propagation of disease since 1842 was catastrophic. “The truth of Mr Gamgees statistics was established by the bankruptcy of almost every livestock insurance company since 1842, and the ruin of hundreds of farmers, whether they trusted or not in livestock insurance associations. The only methods by which plagues could be met was by the adoption of preventive measures, which scientific men could certainly suggest , and he hoped the result of the first international veterinary congress would be to demonstrate to all the very great importance of the veterinary art, and to encourage all present in promoting the success of many more such meetings in future years”.
Every farmer his own farrier and cattle doctor
"The Times", 1863.
The international congress of veterinary surgeons in Hamburg, 1863. “The constant spread of destructive plagues from Eastern to Western Europe, the losses sustained in Great Britain and Ireland since 1842 by foreign maladies such as the lung disease in cattle, the foot and mouth disease in most of our domestic quadrupeds, and smallpox in sheep, and lastly the very threatening aspect of the present condition as to health of continental stock, have led to the holding of an international congress of veterinary surgeons in Hamburg, during the week of the International Agricultural Exhibition in that city.
The first circular proposing the congress was issued in the month of March last, by professor Gangee, of the new Veterinary college, Edinburgh, and since then, so great an interest has been evinced in the matter abroad, that upwards of 70 professors and practitioners attended the first two meetings... the professors attended officially being sent from Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Hanover, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Swizerland, &c., to ascertain what measures could be recommended so as to insure an efficient co-operation between different governments interested in the prevention of cattle and sheep plagues”.
The international congress of veterinary surgeons in Hamburg, 1863. “The constant spread of destructive plagues from Eastern to Western Europe, the losses sustained in Great Britain and Ireland since 1842 by foreign maladies such as the lung disease in cattle, the foot and mouth disease in most of our domestic quadrupeds, and smallpox in sheep, and lastly the very threatening aspect of the present condition as to health of continental stock, have led to the holding of an international congress of veterinary surgeons in Hamburg, during the week of the International Agricultural Exhibition in that city.
The first circular proposing the congress was issued in the month of March last, by professor Gangee, of the new Veterinary college, Edinburgh, and since then, so great an interest has been evinced in the matter abroad, that upwards of 70 professors and practitioners attended the first two meetings... the professors attended officially being sent from Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Hanover, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Swizerland, &c., to ascertain what measures could be recommended so as to insure an efficient co-operation between different governments interested in the prevention of cattle and sheep plagues”.
Thomas Hale, 1740s, wrote these notes of advice concerning the farm horse. “The diseases to which the noble animal is subject are very numerous and very little understood. They destroy many a useful creature that might be preserv'd with a little proper care...after the bundles of receipts in old authors, and the discoveries, great as they are, which have of later times been made by ingenious foreigners, as well as by our Gibson, Bracken, Bartlett, and the rest, there is no book in the English language so much wanted, as a compleat system of farriery.
It is but of late that the consideration of horses has fallen into the hands of those who had any of the requisites for being capable of a due care of them. Farriers have been used to be of the most ignorant among mankind; and every blacksmith called himself at one time a horse doctor. Of late the great use of this noble creature in our various concerns of business and pleasure, has rescued it out of such hands, and made it a subject for more education and abilities; and though the practise be yet far short of perfection, great advances have been made in it, with which the husbandman should not be unaquainted".
It is but of late that the consideration of horses has fallen into the hands of those who had any of the requisites for being capable of a due care of them. Farriers have been used to be of the most ignorant among mankind; and every blacksmith called himself at one time a horse doctor. Of late the great use of this noble creature in our various concerns of business and pleasure, has rescued it out of such hands, and made it a subject for more education and abilities; and though the practise be yet far short of perfection, great advances have been made in it, with which the husbandman should not be unaquainted".
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