ON VETERINARY CONSULTATIONS. 
429 
valuable at least in the estimation of its owner. We do not say 
that seniority in practice should not claim a kind of precedence; 
that will be readily yielded by the junior, but which does not 
imply a sacrifice of reputation or of opinion. 
The object for which they meet should be held sacred by 
both—the restoration of the patient. The surgeon first em¬ 
ployed is bound by every prin.ciple of honour to put his coadju¬ 
tor in possession of all the circumstances that can assist him in 
coming to a right conclusion. Concealment here is the most 
disgraceful species of treachery. Even although he is begin¬ 
ning to suspect that some, at least—possibly much—of the 
danger is to be attributed to his erroneous judgment in the first 
instance, or to the wrong measures which he had afterwards 
pursued, still he is bound to speak the truth, and the whole 
truth. We have no hesitation in saying, that we would never 
again meet in consultation the man who had once deceived us 
here; and we w^ould at all times tell at once the reason of our 
refusal. 
The consulting surgeon is likewise bound, as far as he is able, 
by all due inquiry (but not like our last friend’s incautious or 
suspicious questioning), to get at the previous history of the 
case, and, after that, to make the best use of his senses in appre¬ 
ciating the present state of the animal. 
Then comes the laying of the heads together. Here between 
man and man there should be no concealment. Away from the 
owner, away from the stable-people, the matter should be fully 
and candidly discussed. It will not be thought surprising 
if at first there should be some contrariety of opinion. Even in 
human medicine, far, far more advanced in its progress tow’ards 
certainty than the veterinary art, there are very few who enter¬ 
tain precisely the same views of theory and practice on any point. 
Let the matter in dispute be canvassed in the spirit of truth and 
friendship, and it will not be often that both will continue to be 
obstinate. The consulting surgeon, so far as he can conscien¬ 
tiously do it, should yield, for he has seen the case but once — 
the other has watched it through all its stages j unless, indeed, 
lar superior length of practice may be supposed to have given 
