A NATIONAL VETERINARY INSTITUTE. 405 



Pennsylvania for the Foundation of a Veterinary Department in 

 the University of Pennsylvania " (Philadelphia, 1879).* The " Ap- 

 peal" is issued by the "Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention 

 of Cruelty to Animals." It begins thus : 



" To the Citizens of Pennsylvania. 



" By resolution of the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania 

 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, I have been re- 

 quested to call your attention to the pressing need there is, at the 

 present time, for some well-organized system of teaching veterinary 

 medicine and surgery to those who are willing and anxious to avail 

 themselves of such instruction. There is no veterinary college in 

 active operation in this State [and there is absolutely no call for 

 one ; in fact, the teachings of the history of veterinary medicine em- 

 phatically forbid it, as I shall presently show. — B.] In New York 

 State and elsewhere [where ?] much attention is being given [the 

 State of ]STew York^er se gives none] to this subject, and the veteri- 

 nary practice of medicine is taught in some colleges [which produce 

 a class of semi-educated wolves, called empirics]. During January, 

 1878, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania passed resolu- 

 tions looking toward the establishment of a veterinary department 

 as soon as money could be obtained to defray the expense. The 

 Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has 

 made a study [a very limited one] of the methods of effecting some 

 organization to bring about so desirable an end, and has held com- 

 munication with a committee appointed by the trustees of the uni- 

 versity having charge of this branch of science. 



" The Hon. John Welsh, our minister at the court of St. James, 

 writes from London under date of February 26, 1879, to Dr. Will- 

 iam Pepper, of this city : ' At this moment, the importance of well- 

 instructed men in this [veterinary] branch of medical science is par- 

 ticularly prominent, for the opinions of the Privy Council in regard 

 to the American live-cattle trade are entirely controlled by them. 

 The diseases of animals are becoming of great interest to the pub- 

 lic, and for some years past the efforts of the English Government 

 have been directed toward ' stamping out ' rinderpest, pleuro-pneu- 

 monia, and other contagious diseases among cattle, sheep, and swine. 

 [With but very limited success, as can easily be seen by studying the 

 history of these efforts, and reading the correspondence and edito- 

 rials in the " Veterinary Journal " of London. There is little better 



* The criticisms which are here made are equally applicable to the attempt of Har- 

 vard University to establish the same kind of a humbug school at Boston. 



