378 PRESENT STATE OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
of the provender; or is it the water? I am inclined to 
believe the former, for I have invariably found the hay and 
clover to be exceedingly high-dried and very dusty, having 
the appearance of being too much exposed to wind and dust 
during harvest. The water is off the limestone formation, 
and is generally conveyed in lead pipes. 
I would just allude more particularly, in closing my 
remarks, to the use of the sulphate of iron as a vermifuge. 
I do not know if it has been in general employment among 
my brother practitioners, not having seen any report of its 
use, and wishing also that “each should benefit by the ex¬ 
perience of each,” I would strongly advise its addition to 
their formulae, for I can vouch for its efficacy after an ex¬ 
tensive trial of it. 
THE PRESENT STATE OF THE VETERINARY 
PROFESSION, AND THE CAUSES THAT RE¬ 
TARD ITS ADVANCEMENT. 
By R. Gibton, A.B., M.R.C.V.S., Melbourne. 
Gentlemen, —The excellent and appropriate address 
delivered by Professor Spooner at the commencement of 
the present session, and published in the Veterinarian for 
November, contains much sound and wholesome advice, and 
which, if acted on, would, I doubt not, soon tend to raise the 
profession at large, and the members thereof individually, 
to that high position not, it must be acknowledged, yet fully 
attained. 
There appear to be several causes in operation to retard 
the progress of our art. I will endeavour to give a few of 
those that occur to me, as well as the remedies that suggest 
themselves to produce an opposite state of things. It is, I 
think, freely granted that in England the highest places are 
open to the humblest individuals, provided they have the 
ability and skill to attain them. This may be held as a 
general rule, though exceptions are numerous; aristocratic 
influence often being brought to bear against merit; also, 
that there exists much unrequited merit none can doubt, 
which is easily accounted for by the fact that the supply is 
greater than the demand. My object in this prologue is to 
point out the fact, which I am sure will be agreed to by all, 
that few have ever attained these positions, or arrived at 
