EDITORIAL. 303 



expert. Moreover, the prospective veterinary graduate is no longer 

 restricted to the work of a practitioner for a career, as he finds open 

 to him numerous other avenues of promise and honor. Aside from 

 the ever- widening field of instruction and res^rch, such openings as 

 the meat inspection work of this Department or of States and mu- 

 nicipalities, the veterinary service of the Army, and the inspection of 

 cattle and stables in connection with the regulation of milk supplies 

 may be cited as typical of the opportunities practically unheard of 

 a generation ago but now available in increasing number and 

 attractiveness. 



The agricultural colleges and experiment stations have been still 

 another important factor in veterinary progress in this country. 

 It is of much interest to note that one of the first American veteri- 

 narians to realize the intimate relations of veterinary science to agri- 

 cultural instruction seems to have been Dr. Liautard, who stated in 

 his presidential address to the association in 1877 that " the importance 

 of veterinary science now begins to be felt all over the United States 

 and its vital influence upon the general welfare of live stock is soon 

 recognized by agricultural schools." Veterinary instruction had, in 

 fact, already been established for some time in a number of these in- 

 stitutions. As early as 1868 courses were being given in the agricul- 

 tural departments of the Illinois Industrial, now the State, University, 

 and of Cornell University. A year later the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural College included the subject in its cun-iculum. By 1877 

 veterinary science was also being taught in the agricultural colleges 

 of Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Ver- 

 mont, as well as in the Bussey Institution of Harvard University. 

 This list of institutions has gradually been lengthened, and to-day 

 eight agricultural colleges are giving full courses in veterinary 

 medicine leading to a degree, while forty-four are offering lectures 

 or other work either as an integral part of their agricultural instruc- 

 tion or as a preparatory course for the further study of the subject. 



A similar development has taken place in experiment station 

 work. In 1889 there Avere about twenty veterinarians connected with 

 the stations. In 1899 this number had increased to twenty-eight, in 

 1909 to about forty-seven, and in 1912 to about sixty-eight. In most 

 cases these men were members of full-fledged departments, and some 

 of the stations now require the entire time of several veterinarians. 

 Obviously, this represents a great advance over the early days, when 

 the duties of the station workers were much less clearly defined and 

 it was not uncommon for the veterinarian to be called upon to attend 

 the sick stock of the farmers located in the vicinity or even in distant 

 parts of the State. Such practice, of course, would have rendered 

 impossible of accomplishment any plans for research worthy of the 

 name. Fortunately, such conditions are now exceptional. Tliis is 



