THE HISTORY OF VETERINARY-MEDICINE AS A S UBJECT OF INSTRUCTION - TASKS AND POSSIBILITIES

History of veterinary medicine - which has always been under-rated in the curricula - is the only discipline within the professional trainin g of a veterinary surgeon which encompasses all subjects. It therefore has a uniting, virtually encyclopaedic, mediating function. The inten tion of a lecture must be to impart a historic view, to inspire the st udents to consider the responsibility which man has for animals, and t o make them sensitive in their professional life for a critical reflec tion of the basic intellectual concepts of our time and our society be yond the limits of their knowledge of veterinary medicine. It is the v eterinary surgeon's ''professional culture'' - and an essential part o f it is the history of veterinary medicine and domestic animals - whic h demands that this permanent reflection be the basis for the meaningf ul work of a veterinary surgeon.