ON THE ARMY VETERINARY DEPARTMENT. 
54 9 
up of the new code, much less to accuse these honourable per¬ 
sons of partiality: the fact, perhaps, is, that we had nobody to 
speak for us at the time. We are, indeed, an unfortunate class 
of men: we have no head, nor any one to advocate our interests 
on such occasions. I would fain believe we have not deserved 
such neglect. F or although there may have been many indivi¬ 
duals admitted into the service who have done but little credit 
to their calling, yet, as a body, I hope we may still claim, 
and fairly claim, a higher consideration; that we may still vindi¬ 
cate the just expectations entertained of us, and be enabled to 
uphold the respectability of our profession. 
I perfectly agree with the concluding remarks of your Corre¬ 
spondent, whom I am proud to call my confrere, that “ no depart¬ 
ment has been left so much in the back-ground (important as it 
has long been acknowledged to be) as the veterinary depart¬ 
ment of the army; and principally for want of a head; or, at 
least, such a head as would take an interest in promoting it 
to the highest degree of utility and perfection;*’ and, let me 
add, who would take care to admit none but fit and properly 
qualified persons into the service; who would pursue a course 
unbiassed by patronage or selfish considerations; who would 
fulfil the just expectations of the profession and the world; in 
short, who would do justice to it. Then, indeed, and not till 
then, will the words of Vegetius, which you have taken for your 
motto, apply to us poor Vets, of the nineteenth century. At pre¬ 
sent, I cannot help saying, I feel the late alterations and regula¬ 
tions in the army have thrown us back to a vast and most humi¬ 
liating distance from the heel of the regular practitioner of 
medicine; relatively with whom, I repeat, we have lost much 
ground,—have been lowered and degraded in the scale. 
We may not yet have altogether fulfilled the high expecta¬ 
tions of the world; but this, at least, is not the way to make us 
better. Every thing will thrive in proportion only as it is stimu¬ 
lated and encouraged. To starve and depress is, therefore, to 
check the growth, if not entirely to destroy, this interesting 
branch of medical science. 
For my own part, I must say, that, were my time to come over 
again, seeing what I now see, I should scarcely, I think, be in¬ 
duced to sacrifice five-and-twenty of the best years of my life 
to the consideration of a scanty pittance of eight shillings a day, 
especially when I constantly see men who I think not at all my 
superiors either in utility or attainment obtaining as a reward for 
the same period of service perhaps double that ratio. It must 
be confessed this is a sad finale. 
But I must express a hope of still seeing the army veterinary 
VOL, in. 4 E 
