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QUACKERY IN THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
By John Shives, V.S., St. John’s, N. B. 
Perhaps no regularly qualified graduate of any science 
commenced the practice of his profession without experienc- 
ing the opposition of “ quacks,” and the more ignorant the 
said quacks may be, the more virulent and presumptive they 
are. The veterinary profession is no exception to this rule ; 
it would even seem that, for certain reasons, quackery is 
making a harder fight in this than in any other profession. 
One reason may, no doubt, be found in the infancy of the 
science, coupled with the barbarous treatment held forth by 
pretenders in the art and the somewhat intractable character 
of the patients to be operated on. These would doubtless 
deter many young men, capable of mastering the science in 
detail, from hazarding the experiment. 
Now, however, that circumstances have changed, and a 
rational mode of treatment, based on well-defined principles, 
having taken the place of the former syatem, or rather no 
system, and young men of excellent education and abilities 
occupying the seats in the Veterinary Colleges, we have a 
right to expect that quackery will hide its diminutive head. 
That it has not as yet done so, however, is obvious, and 
we now proceed to notice what, in our humble opinion, are 
the sources of its prolonged vitality. 
There are men in all communities discontented with the 
calling they may be engaged in, or tired of having none , who, 
having seen some presumptuous “ spirits” knock out a com- 
fortable living by “ doctoring by rule of thumb,” wish to 
keep this door, so easy of access, open, with the hope that 
when they have learned to bleed , they may by that means 
reach fame and fortune. To compass this they keep puffing 
every pretender, their aim being to exalt him at the expense 
of the professional. Besides, this effort to bias the minds of 
the public in favour of the quack often culminates in delibe- 
rate falsehood when they wish to excuse or magnify their 
hero, or to vilify the regular practitioner. The impertinence 
of such men is wonderful ; no effort is spared to bring for- 
ward their man on every possible occasion, giving him the 
chances of all such cases as would probably recover without 
any treatment, leaving only such cases as bleeding will 
neither kill nor cure for the professional; but, as a rule, they 
have put them beyond human skill before they send for him. 
Next comes the interested “druggist,” who furnishes “horse 
