o20 
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY. 
action for damages; but the judge said, u no action lies, for if 
the complainant had not himself been an ass he would not have 
employed a farrier.” So, as few but asses will, ere long, employ 
those who have neither the opportunity nor the desire to obtain a 
competent knowledge of the principles of the veterinary profes¬ 
sion, there will be no redress for him who has not been deluded 
by any one but himself. The noisy pretensions of these ignora¬ 
muses will not be sufficient ground of action, for he must have 
been sadly careless or inconsiderate who gave the slightest cre¬ 
dence to them. 
The professed veterinary surgeon, however, stands pledged to 
display skill and attention in the practice of his calling. Yet this 
requires explanation. There is no necessity that he should pos¬ 
sess, or shew that he possesses, any extraordinary degree of medi¬ 
cal talent. It is not necessary that he should be free from error 
in his opinion of disease, or his practice on it. He may even mis¬ 
take tetanus, in its early stage, for an injury of the back : all 
that is required is a general and ordinary knowledge of the pro¬ 
fession to which he states himself to belong. Nor does the u want 
of attention” (another supposed ground of action) imply that 
he is always to be careful over one patient to the exclusion of 
others—or that he should be always in attention, to the sacri¬ 
fice of his personal convenience and rest—or that he should have 
been aware of changes that unexpectedly happened while he was 
away, and which required immediate assistance or change of 
treatment. The attention demanded is that only which any man 
of ordinary industry might be expected to shew. 
The law of responsibility is, on the whole, that which no 
honest and tolerably competent practitioner will have to dread. 
He who cannot exhibit disgraceful ignorance, and who will not 
shew unfeeling negligence, has no cause to fear. The good 
sense of the jury will, likewise, always lean towards the fair 
and honourable practitioner; nor need we fear that the peculiar 
disadvantages under which we labour will be forgotten. 
The veterinary surgeon, however, has not the chance of the 
human practitioner. His patients are dumb. They cannot tell 
the seat, or the degree, or the kind of pain. He has to find out 
all these things for himself by a closeness of observation, com- 
