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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 876 



agriculture and others in the treatment of 

 animal diseases. ' ' Every man his own vet- 

 erinarian" has been the slogan of many, 

 and because of the scarcity of properly 

 trained practitioners it seemed for a time 

 to be the only source of relief. Gradually 

 the line of demarcation is appearing be- 

 tween the general scientific knowledge of 

 the layman and that required for the suc- 

 cessful practise of veterinary medicine. 

 Further, as people become versed in the 

 biological sciences, they are better qualified 

 to judge of scientific work; but nowhere in 

 general education are men trained in the 

 details of fact and physical law necessary 

 to wrestle with the diagnosis and treatment 

 of animal diseases. The holding up of a 

 professional standard is more and more in 

 evidence. The aphorism that "the treat- 

 ment of a disease should not be given to a 

 man who can not make the diagnosis" is 

 prevailing more than ever before, and with 

 it great suffering to dumb creation is being 

 avoided. 



Nowhere in educational extension work 

 is there more danger than in the effort to 

 popularize knowledge which can not be 

 popularized. Some years since I was asked 

 to prepare an article for a great agricul- 

 tural encyclopedia on the treatment of all 

 of the diseases of animals. My reply was 

 that I could not do it for two reasons, first, 

 I did not possess the necessary knowledge 

 and, secondly, I would not if I could. 

 Whatever our duties may be, they cer- 

 tainly do not lead us into acts that Avill 

 encourage uninformed people to interfere 

 with the natural resisting and healing 

 forces of the physical body by the improper 

 application of drugs. As sacred as the 

 Hippocratic oath is the therapeutic axiom, 

 " If we do no good be sure we do no harm. ' ' 

 The assumption that a diagnosis can be 

 made by any intelligent individual and 

 that he can apply remedies with hope of 



success is no longer entertained. The 

 recognition of the line of cleavage between 

 knowledge that can be imparted to and 

 used by the layman and that which can be 

 used effectively only with the full comple- 

 ment of facts which are possessed by the 

 properly trained professional man, is a 

 signal for still better and more lasting 

 achievements. 



A third element of strength is the recog- 

 nition by the existing veterinary schools 

 and colleges that better and more efficient 

 work is demanded of them. Already there 

 is a wide-spread effort to bring about better 

 conditions. As the foundation for a bet- 

 ter system of veterinary education has been 

 laid by forces operating largely outside of 

 the profession, it remains for us to build 

 upon this foundation an educational struc- 

 ture adequate to the demands. Many ef- 

 forts of a more or less spasmodic nature 

 have been put forth to accomplish this. 

 Numerous formula have been proposed for 

 the conduct of veterinary schools and col- 

 leges. While opinions may differ as to the 

 effectiveness of the various remedies pro- 

 posed, we may with fairness to all pass 

 from a prescribed formula to the facts and 

 principles that must be reckoned with in 

 securing the desired results. Here we do 

 not differ from human medicine, engineer- 

 ing, agriculture or specialization in any of 

 the sciences. The facts to be considered 

 pertain to the changes in curriculum, meth- 

 ods of teaching and the necessary cost of 

 instruction. The underlying principle is 

 that which governs the growth of knowl- 

 edge and the discipline of the individual 

 acquiring it. 



In former times students acquired their 

 professional knowledge from their precep- 

 tors. Later this system obtained in schools 

 where the master in the form of didactic 

 lectures given with more or less ceremony 

 imparted facts considered to be sufficient 



