concept
Epizootic diseases
epizootics
also: эпизоотии
Epidemic disease outbreaks among livestock, a genuine subject of veterinary study; the tutor Pobedimsky's single memorized stock phrase about them -- the sole visible remainder of his unfinished veterinary education -- is his only topic for "clever conversation."
Reading notes
- The Privy Councillor §56 epizootic diseases
Epizootics -- epidemic disease outbreaks among livestock -- were a genuine subject of study at veterinary institutes and a real concern for the rural economy; the joke is that this single stock phrase, memorized and recited whenever "clever conversation" is called for, is the entire visible remainder of Pobedimsky's half-year of veterinary education.