A NATIONAL VETERINARY INSTITUTE. 407 



London, for the benefit of the ' charitably-minded ' owner of fine 

 horses, who finds it as cheap, or cheaper, to send a horse ' a little 

 off ' to the school for a week or so, than to keep it at home], for 

 such animals, his own property [an occasional horse belonging to a 

 friend will not be objected to^ the professors are so accommodating ; 

 and if they are not, they will not know it], as may need medical or 

 surgical treatment, at a price to be fixed, closely approximating the 

 actual cost of feed and care. He may also demand free examina- 

 tion of ten horses or mules each year, as to soundness, with a view 

 to purchase. He can also secure free advice in case of animals 

 brought to the infirmary, but which he proposes to keep in his own 

 stables or kennels. Rules and regulations looking toward the pro- 

 tection of the university and subscribers will be made, to prevent 

 abuse of these privileges, and firms will be permitted to register as 

 subscribers on the condition of one member only being named to 

 act as the representative of the firm, in its correspondence with the 

 authorities of the veterinary department." 



The worthy President of the P. C. A. Society must have had 

 some adviser more interested in becoming a " professor" than in the 

 future of his profession, or the welfare of his brother practitioners, 

 when he penned the above lines. It is with extreme regret that I 

 feel myself, as a devoted servant to my countrymen, obliged to most 

 earnestly oppose the above " appeal and plan " in its most essential 

 parts. It contains many words of wisdom and truth, and is deserv- 

 ing the earnest study of every patriotic American ; but the above 

 plan, if carried out, would lead to the establishment of a school run 

 entirely in the interests of a select number of subscribers, opposed to 

 those investigations by which science is alone advanced, conserva- 

 tive in the worst form, oj:>posing always the interests of its own 

 graduates by keeping up a constant opposition in practice which the 

 private practitioner is unable to compete with. 



The " Appeal " is made nominally " to the citizens of Pennsylva- 

 nia," but it will virtually result, if at all successful, in an " appeal " 

 to those persons who alone are by the " plan " to derive the benefits, 

 viz., the well-to-do and wealthy horse-owners and large firms of 

 Philadelphia alone. 



"What interests have the citizens of Pennsylvania or Massachu- 

 setts in an institution, the direct benefits of which are only accessi- 

 ble to the residents of Philadelphia or Boston, or their immediate 

 vicinity % I could fill a small book with the testimonies of British 

 veterinarians of unquestioned reputation with regard to the futility 

 and injuriousness of the above plan, and the injury which the quoted 



