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THE VETERINARIAN, OCTOBER ], 1803. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audcat. —Cicero. 
AIDS TO ADVANCEMENT. 
We have before observed that the vantage-ground on 
■which we stand, as a profession, at the present day, is very 
high—although not so high as we hope to see it—and the 
facilities for acquiring knowledge correspondingly great. 
Not to avail ourselves of what has been done bv others, and 
thus to promote our continued advancement, would be as 
foolish as if the mariner, when on the trackless ocean, were 
to refuse to refer to the many charts that have been pub¬ 
lished, on which reliance may be placed, and by which he is 
enabled not only to reach by the shortest route his desired 
haven, but to do so with safety, since on them the hidden 
rocks and dangerous reefs are carefully laid dowm that have 
been discovered by previous voyagers. Or, to take another 
simile, what if a traveller, desirous of exploring a recently 
discovered country, were to disregard all the information 
that others had acquired, and of which an account had been 
given to the public; and full of self-sufficiency as to his 
knowledge of the place and powers of endurance, started 
off, boastingly saying he needed no help from others—w^ould 
it be likely that he could add so much that was new and in¬ 
teresting to the inquiry, or make such easy progress as he 
who, more wdsely studying what others had observed, and 
where others had been, used to advantage the communicated 
information? Surely not. The first, in all probability, 
would be for ever lost, sunk in the mighty waters, leaving 
no trace even of where his vessel was engulphed ; the second, 
after fruitlessly traversing a seemingly boundless forest, 
would become bewildered, or, parched with thirst in a desert 
land, would lay himself down to die. Or should it be 
that they both return, they would have nothing to report 
but a long recital of disappointed hopes and encountered 
