ON THE DISCUSSION AT THE FARMERS’ CLUB. 49 
while they wish the new, with all its followers, were translated to 
the Hottentot’s land in South Africa. 
Referring to Mr. Ellman’s speech, as reported in the afore¬ 
named discussion at the Farmers’ Club—which, by the by, is any 
thing but complimentary to our profession—we presume that gen¬ 
tleman must have been unlucky enough to have encountered, in 
his application for medical aid for his sheep, some one of the un¬ 
fortunate individuals whom their alma , or rather falsa, mater had 
deluded into a belief that they were “ qualified to practise” that 
which they had never learnt—never, indeed, been taught. When 
Mr. Ellman comes to see matters in this light, he will probably 
feel regret at the anathemas he has passed upon veterinary prac¬ 
titioners, and be led to regard them as a body “ more sinned 
against than sinning.” Whatever may be the qualifications of his 
shepherd, he cannot for a moment entertain the belief that his sick 
sheep is safer in his hands than in those of a man acquainted with 
the principles of medicine; for if a state of ignorance of principles 
be blissful or advantageous, and practice alone be all that is re¬ 
quired, then, indeed, are schools of no utility, and books but waste 
paper. The motto of the Agricultural Society is, “ practice with 
scienceours is, “ science with practiceto set a child to read 
before he has learnt his ABC, appears to us like putting the 
cart to draw the horse. Practice, no doubt, in farming concerns is 
the sine qua non of success; but, then, look at the difference be¬ 
tween the practice which has science for its guide and that which 
blindly pushes forward in pursuit of science. 
Before we conclude these observations, we would fain whisper a 
word in the ear of that individual of our profession who may find 
himself in the sad dilemma of having embarked in practice without 
that knowledge of sheep and cattle medicine and management 
which it is absolutely necessary for him to possess in order to 
enable him to do that justice to his patients and employers, which, 
in conscience and in duty, he is bound to perform. Let him re¬ 
member that many of his profession before him must have found 
themselves in the same predicament, and then let him look around 
him, and see what number of these “ many” have in after-life made 
themselves, by their own exertions , skilful and successful “ cattle 
doctors.” He must not forget that the principles of horse medicine 
VOL. XXII . 1 H 
