370 ON THE STATUS OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
he requires to make himself more of a citizen of the world. 
He needs to be more conversant with men and manners ; for 
I know of no individual who has to fashion himself to so many 
different services as the veterinarian, particularly the provincial 
one ; syice, if not so frequent a guest of the drawing-room, if 
not so well versed in small talk as the Sporting Surgeon , yet the 
well-conducted and self-respected veterinarian will find few 
societies whereof he is not a welcome guest. 
At his market ordinary, he will often find himself the subject 
of appeal upon matters more or less connected with his profession. 
Again, he must or should not be totally ignorant of turf matters; 
at least, it will be desirable to possess information as far as 
regards the pedigree and performance of the more favoured 
horses of the day. It will occasionally be his lot to accompany 
some kind patron (perhaps, in refutation of what the Sporting 
Surgeon would state, after having been admitted to lunch with 
him) to the hunting stable, and here, with a passing glance of 
his eye, he will be expected to speak, and correctly too, as to 
the merits of each individual horse, as far as capabilities as to 
pace, weight, adaptation to different countries, and liabilities as 
to endurance and failure ; and should he, in any one of these, 
egregiously err, he will soon perceive himself at a discount 
with his patron. 
A succeeding day may place him amid a knot of agricultural 
friends, by some of whom he may be questioned, not upon the 
disease of any animal, but upon reference to good and bad 
points as to feeding, qualities present, and future weight., &c. 
This knowledge may, perchance, be taxed as to the new calf, 
what he or she is likely to become as the future ox or cow. He 
may, perchance, visit some far-famed flock, the careful produce of 
many a year ; and here, too, he will be expected to hazard an 
opinion, point out merits or defects, speak somewhat correctly 
regarding blood, its purity, &c., to detect some distant trace of 
old, or recognise some recent dash of new. 
There are so many other things, quite as essential, of which 
we are required to possess a knowledge, in addition to what may 
be strictly termed medical knowledge, that, as it has been stated, 
“ if a man knoweth not that which it is necessary for him to 
know, it signifyeth nothing, even should he know all the world 
beside.” I saw this verified once, very much to the chagrin of 
a promising young veterinarian, in attendance upon a cow 
having an inflamed udder, who for the first time in his life 
tried his hand at milking, in which his performance proved so 
clumsy and unsuccessful as to expose him to the ridicule of a 
host of farm-yard ignoramuses. 
You occasionally venture an opinion upon the present and 
