VETERINARY EDUCATION. 
127 
Cowleeches, mingliDg with, and belonging to, the lowest class 
of society. If we are now permitted to assume the title of Vete« 
rinary Surgeon, that higher designation, while it confers on us 
many privileges, imposes corresponding duties. If we are no 
longer the groom’s companion, the coachman’s friend, and the 
oracle of the ale-houses;—if we call ourselves, and are acknow¬ 
ledged to be, members (inferior ones undoubtedly) of the medi¬ 
cal profession; it is taken for granted that we possess the ac¬ 
quirements and manners suited to our new station. If we have 
them not, and if we do not seek to obtain them, we shall 
expose ourselves to deserved contempt, and bring disgrace on 
the profession to which we belong. Therefore, “ Aim high 
enough, 
The education of a farrier, or the acquirements of the Vete¬ 
rinary Surgeon for too many years past, Avill no longer satisfy 
the just expectation of the public, or establish your own repu¬ 
tation and success. 
My next advice, and most strongly urged would be— Cultivate 
a deep interest in the weal and woe of your patients. 
What is the avowed, I trust, the true and important object of 
your profession ? It is to increase enjoyment and diminish 
pain. 
Although your patients have not the intelligence of the noblest 
of the works of God, they often display much sagacity; they 
are attached to you ; faithful, useful. It is disgraceful in any 
individual to injure or torture them, and much more so in the 
man who has pledged himself, by the profession which he fol¬ 
lows, to be their protector and friend. 
You will have it in your power, and it will be your duty, to 
correct many absurd and cruel practices, whether by the groom 
or the master; and, if you would succeed in your laudable at¬ 
tempt, you must not sin yourself. 
Your patients will not be able to tell you either the seat of 
their ailments, or the degree of their pain; and you must form 
your opinion of many of their diseases by a very careful observ¬ 
ance of their appearance and habits. If you approach them 
in a brutal way, and the oath and the blow, should they offend 
you, go together, you agitate and frighten them, and you cannot 
possibly judge of their actual state, or from a rational decision 
as to the remedial measures you should pursue. Approach a 
horse gently and coaxingly, and you have the true state of his 
pulse and his respiration. Go up to him, as too many farriers 
and^some Veterinary Surgeons do. and you increase the heaving 
of his flanks, and most strangely quicken the beatings of the 
heart. 
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