Book Description

Veterinary medicine has long been recognized as one of the more neglected areas of medical history. One of the main stumbling blocks to research is the lack of comprehensive information regarding the survival and availability of primary source material. Veterinary Medicine: A Guide to Historical Sources redresses these issues for the first time, offering researchers an unparalleled tool with which to approach the subject. The book opens with a brief history of veterinary medicine and the veterinary profession from the fourteenth to the beginning of the twenty first centuries, identifying the key dates and events that shaped their development. There then follows a chapter on the nature and uses of the records covered by the book, outlining the types of records found, the type of information they contain and their likely uses by different types of researcher. A brief user's guide then explains how to use the book. After these preliminary sections, comes the main body of the book, the lists of records. It is here that the various practices and institutions covered by the book are listed, together with the types of records they hold, the dates they cover and where they are kept. A short biographical history is also included with each entry where appropriate. Taken as a whole this volume will prove to be an invaluable aid for any scholar, researching the history of veterinary medicine in Britain.