AMERICANS AND THEIR HORSES 135 



faith in their own methods, naturally look with disdain 

 upon ignorant and unscientific breeders. 



The English have admired always what is 7iot English, 

 with a 'saving clause,' and when the American colonists, 

 more than a century ago, asked for their freedom from 

 EngUsh rule, it was refused with the intimation that 

 they were not capable of self-government. This sneer 

 lost John Bull his colonies, and America then and there 

 declared her independence to act as she pleased. She has 

 done so ever since, not always admitting that in some 

 things other nations might be wiser. But to-day in 

 matters of science, she recognises the imperative necessity 

 of a training that educates, compares, observes closely, 

 avoids serious mistakes, and produces the inevitable 

 consequences, desired or intended. It is one of the 

 blessed results of our swift trans-Atlantic journeys, 

 encouraging constant travel and communication with 

 foreign countries, that the wise of our day and generation 

 have been enabled to gather and enjoy the various fruits 

 of scientific research, ripe with age, to be found in the 

 cultivated gardens of Europe's colleges. 



The recent establishment in the United States of 

 veterinary schools, is a growth commensurate with the 

 more advanced ideas, not only of men of science, but 

 of such interested owners of blooded stock as desire to 

 perpetuate the best types, and who are willing to experi- 

 ment only in the right direction. Only a few years ago 

 the ' vet ' in America was the stableman, practised only in 

 his daily care of, and experience with, horses, and seeking 

 to relieve their distress through his very love of them. To- 

 day a thorough course of study and practical training is 

 deemed essential to secure a graduate's diploma in any 



