ON VETERINAKY CONSULTATTONS. 
425 
is evidently a little dissatisfied. ' No one but the honest practi¬ 
tioner can tell what a source of anxiety and discomfort this is. 
If we knew a brother veterinarian, of whom we could be assured 
that he would not compromise our professional reputation ; that 
he would not take advantage of the opportunity we gave him 
to assume superiority over us, or damn us with faint, hesitating 
praise, how eagerly should we advise our employer to have 
recourse to him ; and how pleasantly might we work together in 
accomplishing the grand objects of our profession, the relief or 
restoration of our patient, and the preservation of the property 
of our employer ! Never will two friendly honest practitioners 
meet together in this way without some new view of the dis¬ 
ease or its treatment being elicited. The old adage will, with 
rarely an exception, be verified, that two heads are better than 
one and that good understanding which should subsist among 
us, so becoming, so useful, so delightful, will be effectually 
secured. 
As to the manner in which our few meeting's of this kind are 
conducted, tw'O or three anecdotes, relating to us individually, 
may give sufficient illustration. We were, at the outset of our 
career, friendly to these consultations; and when the matter 
rested with us, there was one gentleman whom, for a little while, 
we used generally to call in. We were, after the second or third 
time, somewhat dissatisfied with his manner; and at length there 
seemed to be such a frequent and almost inseparable connexion 
between the visits of Mr.-, and the loss of our employer^ 
that we began seriously to take alarm. 
We believe that we were always scrupulously punctual in en¬ 
gagements of this nature; but the consulting surgeon used often 
to be a quarter or half of an hour before his time : therefore we 
missed him altogether, or onlv saw him when he was about to 
get into his gig and drive away. 
He never used to wait a moment for us, but proceeded to exa¬ 
mine the patient, and question the groom or coachman, with 
many a consequential umy)h !’^ and ah !” and then he had his 
regular interview with the proprietor ; but at first he did us the 
VOL. vi. 3 I 
