History rediscovered: Welcome to 139 years of The Veterinary Journal

摘要

The Roman statesman and scholar, Cicero, draws our attention to the importance of appreciating the past and shows how it impacts on our lives. In this quote he emphasises that only through understanding what has gone before can we begin to visualise what really happened. History, he says, will enhance the memory, help to direct current endeavours and bring alive the work of our predecessors. It can also guide us to imitate and progress what has been successful and to reject what was mistaken. These concepts are important in science too but are not always recognised. Editors of scientific journals regularly read reports from reviewers stressing that an author has omitted to cite particular references or appears unaware of earlier work that is (or could have been) crucial to their investigations. But historical research can be frustrating. Many of us reflect from time to time that we have a vague idea that such and such a study was done sometime in the past but even with the best of search engines we often find we cannot quite trace the report we need.