October 13, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



463 



dents can pay, it is fair that, after receiving 

 the benefit of such training, the alumni 

 should respond willingly and generously. 

 Because such an education is expensive, 

 and because through the wisdom and gen- 

 erosity of certain people provision has been 

 made that boys with little or no money can 

 obtain it, there is no reason why the re- 

 cipients should not repay the institution 

 for what they have already received. 



On the continent of Europe government 

 control has long since solved this difSculty. 

 In America the states and governments are 

 beginning to recognize their responsibility 

 in this matter, but nowhere to the extent 

 the work demands. However, the senti- 

 ment is right, and our legislators are wait- 

 ing for veterinarians to point out the needs, 

 and indicate the course to be followed. I 

 do not know of any line of educational 

 effort that has been more effective in bring- 

 ing to its aid state assistance than the vet- 

 erinary cause. There is every reason to 

 expect that when the veterinary profession 

 shows the owners of the more than $4,000,- 

 000,000 worth of live stock in the United 

 States alone what can be done to save 

 annually the millions of loss from disease, 

 and when we demonstrate to the health 

 authorities and the public the sanitary im- 

 portance of a veterinary training, this pro- 

 fession will receive its just recognition. 

 The opportunities for the veterinarian to 

 serve the people are so great that when the 

 profession fully meets its responsibilities, 

 and when leaders appear to solve the prob- 

 lems still waiting solution, veterinary edu- 

 cation will become the most idealistic and 

 realistic of the learned professions, and the 

 funds necessary to provide such service 

 will be forthcoming. The need of the time 

 is educational leaders to formulate systems 

 and to develop the many avenues through 

 which we can render service to our clients, 

 our state and our nation. As devotees of 



veterinary science we jneld precedence to 

 none in honesty and lawfulness of purpose 

 or faithfulness of service in the bitter con- 

 flict humanity has ever waged and ever 

 must wage against pain and disease. 



As already stated, our difficulties are not 

 restricted to finances. There are perplex- 

 ing pedagogical tasks before us. In every 

 transition period there are dangers often 

 overlooked until it is too late. Medical 

 instruction and practise are changing. 

 The new theories, diagnostic aids and 

 therapeutic agents fairly glisten with pos- 

 sible victories. The recent graduates go- 

 ing out with this new armor are like the 

 unhappy knights of old in the search for 

 the Holy Grail in that they feel their zeal 

 and power to be sufficient to overcome all 

 obstacles. The pendulum of knowledge, 

 like that which beats time, swings from one 

 extreme to the other. Specific knowledge 

 of etiology, the reaction of the tissues, the 

 definite laboratory methods for diagnosis, 

 are accompanied by dangers, for as yet we 

 see only in part. Already the experience 

 with tuberculin, the agglutination test and 

 the reliance on certain findings in blood 

 examinations, point to the fact, which must 

 not be overlooked, that in all of the so- 

 called methods of precision there are 

 sharply defined limitations which sooner 

 or later will be revealed. Again there is 

 in evidence the danger of superficial train- 

 ing in the practical branches, such as the- 

 ory and practise, because of a dependence 

 on and an over-confidence in laboratory 

 findings or the newer remedies. All too. 

 frequently we receive at our laboratory a 

 piece of hide, a bit of intestine or a smeai> 

 from a liver, sent that we may diagnose the- 

 disease from which the animal died. In 

 rare instances this can be done, but it 

 should be clearly understood that the only- 

 thing laboratory methods can do is to en-, 

 able one to see deeper into the conditioa 



