678 THE RESPECTABILITY OF THE VETERINARY SURGEON. 
which the veterinary surgeon is held ; not in one solitary case alone, 
but, as far as my observation has extended, almost universally. 
Possessed of a classical education, as the veterinarian ought to be, 
and being required to go through an extensive course of education, 
he ought to be able to take his station with the best gentleman in 
the land ; to be the companion of the clergyman, the surgeon, the 
lawyer, and the country gentleman ; in short, to rank as other 
liberal professions do. But is this not the case ] some may ask. 
I am sorry to say “it is not.” The veterinarian is oftener found the 
companion of the stud groom and bailiff than of the gentleman ; 
and often and often have I seen at the house of a sporting friend 
(whose surgeon is admitted as a friend and companion) the veteri- 
narian, a man of talent and education, lunching in the servants’ hall, 
in the company of the servants, or, at best, thinking himself highly 
honoured by taking a glass of wine in the butler’s pantry. That 
this is almost entirely the fault of the veterinarian himself, there 
can be no doubt. The greater portion of your profession undervalue 
themselves. They imagine they shall cultivate the goodwill of 
the gentleman by “ truckling” to him. They seem to think that, 
if they speak to him without a touch of their hat, it would be an 
unheard-of crime ; and then, after all this, they talk of their 
“despised” profession! Certainly, I should be the last in the 
world to instil arrogance into the mind of the young veterinarian. 
But let him always, and in all places, endeavour to conduct him- 
self with a spirit of gentlemanly feeling. Let his deportment be 
respectful, but yet remembering what is due to himself as an edu- 
cated man and a gentleman; and, above all, let him firmly recent 
any attempt to push him in the back-ground. Let him do all this, 
I say, and, depend upon it, he will be thought far more of than by 
the “ truckling” system of which I am complaining, and render 
both himself and his profession more respectable than they are. 
Should these few remarks not be deemed out of place, you will 
oblige an old subscriber and ardent admirer of the veterinary art 
by inserting them in your widely circulated Journal. 
I am, Mr. Editor, 
Your well-wisher, 
A Sporting Surgeon. 
