217 
THE VETERINARIAN, MARCH 1, 1870. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat. — C icero. 
THE FORMATION OE A CENTRAL VETERINARY MEDICAL 
SOCIETY. 
Long talked of, but not yet realised, may be fairly asserted 
of the idea suggested by the title — a Central Veterinary 
Medical Association. There is nothing very unpractical in 
the idea; provincial societies arise and flourish on the 
smallest provocation, while in the metropolis all the efforts 
which have been made to found a central society may be 
said to have utterly failed. 
In 1828 Youatt succeeded in establishing a veterinary 
society, but his efforts were not well supported, and after 
a short time all attempts to keep it alive proved un- 
availing. In 1836, when the present Students' Veterinary 
Medical Association was established, another effort for form- 
ing a central society was put forth, but proved ineffectual. 
Since then little or nothing has been done, although several 
suggestions have been made. A few years ago some of 
the leading members of the profession got so far as the 
framing of rules and bye-laws of such a society. 
Directly in contrast to this very unsatisfactory state of 
affairs, we have in the agricultural world the very type of 
an actively useful central society, having no political bias, 
but practically wielding an immense influence in the affairs 
of the farming community. Farmers' clubs are even more 
plentiful than Veterinary Medical Associations, but they are 
all represented in a great measure by the Central Farmers' 
Club, which, in its place, is the kind of society we desire 
to see established in the veterinary profession. The first 
step in the development of this scheme is to obtain a com- 
petent and energetic secretary, who at the beginning must 
work “ for fame, not fortune/' The society once fairly 
established should, .however, be prepared to remunerate 
their secretary, as this is just the kind of work which 
demands fair payment. 
