406 EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS, 
to be questioned ; and that, in certain venal quarters, business 
can hardly be carried on without some such roguery, we can 
also believe ; but that any man of principle, assuming any pre- 
tensions to the name of gentleman, would “ take his account 
and write down 100” when 50 only was owing to him, we can- 
not imagine. Neither will we be easily persuaded — although 
for the time being, custom might, for want of acquiescence with 
the groom or coachman in dishonest practices, be temporarily 
lost — that in the end the practitioner would incur any great 
damage from refusal to participate in such unprincipled collusion. 
But whether loss or not accrue, nothing whatever can countenance 
such practices as “a Veterinary Surgeon” speaks of; and 
should the opposition party be dishonourable or dishonest 
enough to take advantage of refusal to do business on terms at 
once degrading and insulting to a professional man, the very 
exposure involved in the reasons given for declining such busi- 
ness cannot fail ultimately to unmask the roguish circumventor. 
But servants do not possess the sway with their masters they 
did in former days. Masters look more into their domestic 
concerns, and call for more frequent and stricter accounts from 
their head-grooms and bailiffs. The former will tell you they 
expect to be “ robbed ;” but they are determined the plunder 
shall not proceed to any very great extent, or be perpetuated 
for any indefinite length of time. 
We have received one more letter on this subject than we 
have inserted. It is anonymous; but that is not the reason 
why we have on the present occasion withheld it. It is because 
its general tenour, we think, is calculated rather to do harm 
than good to the cause of our profession. For all this, how- 
ever, there is a passage or two in it which tells in such com- 
plete unison with our view of the subject, that we cannot forbear 
giving it a place here. It is — “ what is to become of the Ve- 
terinary Surgeon, if, in the veterinary books published, his aid 
be in but few cases recommended 1 — If you are a scientific 
body, write as men of science, for the good of your professional 
brethren, and not for every quack and ignorant pretender ! — 
There is your College too ! The young farmer goes to it and 
takes his ticket for a session, but stays perhaps but a fortnight, 
and then returns as full of (assumed) knowledge as any of you, 
