hnpedimenis to Veterinary Science in Great Britain 



409 



indifference has been shewn to them, and 

 their experience treated as of no value what- 

 ever. Let the reader imagine for himself 

 what would be his own feelings when — as an 

 authority upon any subject, he seeks to en- 

 lighten others in reference to it, in whom 

 the absence of precise information is a matter 

 of deep concern to the country as well as 

 individuals — yet he is repulsed as having 

 some mercenary end in view, and by signs 

 if not words, is given to understand his 

 learning and advice are not wanted. Again, 

 let us, if possible, estimate the chagrin and 

 disappointment which must ensue from an 

 unavoidable contact with some of the 

 specimens of our country cow-leeches, from 

 whom not the slightest scrap of information 

 can be gleaned, although whole districts are 

 supplied with no other kind of help. 



Continental veterinarians are well educated, 

 gentlemanly, of high aristocratic bearing, and 

 are eligible for elevated civil posts under go- 

 vernment generally. They are well read in 

 science and have a thorough love for investi- 

 gation in it, and with these qualifications are 

 frequently commissioned by their respective 

 governments to go abroad and inquire into 

 the ravages of diseases among stock, and 

 obtain all the knowledge possible, not only 

 to enrich their already largely accumulated 

 facts as of intense value to their nation, 

 but also to fortify their teachers in the edu- 

 cation and training of future veterinarians. 

 During the prevalence of pleuro-pneumonia, 

 and the " foot-and-mouth disease" in Great 

 Britain since 1842, and more recently of 

 cattle plague, many eminent men have 

 visited this country in their official 

 capacity. Their knowledge of these dis- 

 eases, from direful experience extending over 

 centuries, is therefore much greater than ours, 

 and likely to be of immense benefit if ac- 

 cepted, and, after careful study, applied as 

 altered circumstances will admit. For all 

 that we know in Britain, all that we could 

 bring to bear against our national calamity, 

 the cattle plague, in 1S65-6, we are indebted 

 to French and German veterinarians gene- 

 rally. All suggestions found successful, 

 are the deduction, from their experience 



primarily, which when given for nothing, was 

 altogether unheeded or ignored. The deal- 

 ings with which we, as a nation, have met 

 the scourges that have run through our land, 

 are unmistakable evidences of the low esti- 

 mation that is placed upon the value of 

 stock-raising and stock preservation, and with 

 the means at our command, the enterprize 

 and zeal exhibited in every other capacity, it 

 is a matter of great surprise that the science 

 of veterinary medicine is so far behind, com- 

 pared with its condition in other countries, 

 having far less pretensions towards position 

 either in commerce or wealth. The profeS' 

 sion in Britain offers no inducement for men 

 of education to enter it ; on the Continent 

 every encouragement is held out to the 

 learned, while the study of veterinary medi- 

 cine is reckoned not even second to that 

 which applies to man himself. Here we are 

 content to allow men of the most illiterate 

 habits, having few or no pretensions to learn- 

 ing, and therefore with no knowledge of such 

 essential collateral branches of study as 

 chemistry, botany, or even subordinate ones, 

 to prescribe for our stock, because they will 

 be satisfied with a small fee, and are safe to 

 offer no advice that will be above the com- 

 prehension of the least progressive farmer. 



Although we do not desire to raise all so- 

 called qualified men, or those holding the 

 diploma of one of the recognized colleges, 

 to the rank of the learned and illustrious— 

 would that we could ! — -we nevertheless assert, 

 without fear of contradiction, that the stock 

 of Great Britain would be far safer in the 

 hands of the worst of these, than cared for 

 as it is in far too many instances in our 

 rural districts. At the present time there 

 are not more than 1534 legally appointed 

 veterinarians, and these are^'distributed over 

 Great Britain and the colonies, &c., as fol- 

 lows, the figures being taken from the 

 Register of the Royal College of Veterinary 

 Surgeons. In England there are 998 ; Wales, 

 24; Scotland, 204; Ireland, 65; America, 

 55 ; Australia, 36 ; New Zealand, 6 ; Tas- 

 mania, I ; British Army at home and abroad, 



145- 

 If we look more closely into the lists, we 



