150 FRENCH VIEWS OF VETERFNARY PRACTITIONERS. 
tongue must give utterance to what the mind dictates, be it 
praise or be it blame ; and I cannot but despise the man who is 
accustomed, “ Spargere voces in vulgum ambiguas,” to scatter 
half-formed hints amongst a gaping crowd, without daring to 
utter a palpable fact. But enough of this at present. 
W. Simpson. 
London, Feb. 1/, 1832. 
FRENCH VIEWS OF VETERINARY PRACTITIONERS. 
A veterinarian may be said to be a person who, after 
having studied the veterinary art, is authorised to practise it: 
in other w T ords, to apply the knowledge he has obtained to the 
treatment of the diseases of animals. 
Among the number of veterinarians, we meet with many well- 
informed men who do honour to their profession, at the same 
time that they merit universal esteem and confidence; while 
others are found ignorant—incapable of learning more, either 
from a defective groundwork in education, or from a want of 
taste or tact for the art and the candour to avow it. A worse 
class still (though, fortunately, their number is small), are those 
who debase their profession in the infamy they heap upon them¬ 
selves. The veterinarian should eschew being a prey to that 
empiricism which defies all principles, and strips medical tact 
and genius of its advantages. That empiricism which confines 
him within a narrow inch of action ; is no more than a cloak for 
ignorance and obstinacy, and renders its devotee incapable 
alike of effort or meditation ; his mind inert and trammelled ; and 
which is opposed to every thing assuming the appearance either 
of exertion, operation, or intelligence. To the mere/outinist, ob¬ 
servation is mute—the light of science shines in vain: he per¬ 
forms the same acts over and over again, embarking without 
guide upon a vast ocean abounding in rocks. Presumption is 
another fault the veterinarian should take care to defend himself 
against: he who knows every thing, whom no difficulties 
surprise, whom nothing whatever embarrasses, and to whom 
operations the most delicate are but as nothing, has gone no 
deeper than the bark of the tree; for, in truth, he knows less 
than any one else. It is vain for such a one to vaunt in terms 
of science and bombast, unintelligible to those to whom he may 
address them; and with equal vanity does he boast of the num¬ 
ber and importance of his wonderful cures, or brag of his fame, 
or fatigue with an account of his exploits; he cheats himself, by 
fancying he has more knowledge than he really does or ever will 
