526 EXPERIENCES OF A COUNTRY VETERINARIAN. 
verence to the memory of Mr. Youatt, to say that his work 
does not carry with it the stamp of the practical man. I 
admit that he accomplished much, that he cleared away a 
good deal of dirt and refuse, and brought us something 
better in their places; but much, very much more, yet re¬ 
mains to be done. And it is, I confess, only to some one 
who has dwelt and practised in the retirement of the country 
that I look with much faith for the ultimate accomplishment 
of this task. 
It is true, the country veterinarian is seldom a man of 
much literary talent; indeed, such a man is not likely to 
court the avocations of the country veterinarian; for his is 
by no means an enviable occupation. I have had some ex¬ 
perience herein myself, and may therefore speak with some 
authority. His life is one of almost constant anxiety, and 
his remuneration, too often, no more than “a beggar’s 
harvest, gained by nightly toil.” His practice is frequently 
an uninterrupted struggle against the follies and prejudices 
of the least-educated class of the community on the one side, 
and the most important quackery on the other. Even the 
honours and distinctions, such as they are, that lie within 
the reach of some members of the profession, are never 
attainable by him. No chance, for instance, of his ever being 
elected one of the Board of Examiners; little hope is there 
of his name figuring on the Council of the College. Why, 
he has no vote even in the election of this body, unless he 
chooses to purchase it at just so much as the expenses of a 
visit to London, (he is living at a distance probably of two 
or three hundred miles from the metropolis,) added to his 
professional losses by absence, amount to; and where is the 
individual, I should like to know, who can afford to do this ? 
When people talk of the apathy of the profession, our neglect 
of the Charter, and indifference to our own interests, and of 
the beauties and advantages of self-government, they never 
seem to think of these things. Of the feelings and opinions 
and requirements of a certain class of veterinary surgeons, 
you, yourself, for instance, may be a fair, as you are, doubt¬ 
less, an able exponent; and the same may be said of such 
men as Field and Cherry; but the great bulk of the profession, 
—not they who drive about in fashionable dog-carts,—but 
such as are content to bump the saddle on useful cobs.” 
_ Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow," 
the hard-working and ill-requited country practitioners— 
how, where, and by whom are they represented, I wish to 
ask ? 
