INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF DR. F. W. SKAIFE. 
185 
done. And the breaking of a small tooth, leaving its fang in 
the jaw, only increases the irritation. I wish to acknowledge 
the splendid article on periodic ophthalmia by Dr. Jas. Law, in 
a “Special Report on Diseases of the Horse,” 1890, which I 
have taken as the basis of the above. 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF DR. F. W. SKAIFE, 
President of the California State Veterinary Medical Association. 
Gentlemen :— I must thank you for the honor you have done 
me in electing me President of this Association. I assure you 
I appreciate the compliment, and nothing shall be wanting on 
my part, as far as I am able, to make the year a successful one. 
I intend to make a few random remarks and I hope to claim 
your indulgence for a short time. 
To begin, I shall read a communication which appeared in the 
American Veterinary Review sometime ago (Nov., 1894). 
It is part of a letter sent to the editor, criticising things veterinary 
in California. This is an Eastern veterinary estimate of Cali¬ 
fornian quackery : 
“This section ot the country is rank with what is called the old-time horse doctor, 
otherwise known as the quack, each with his own specific for lung fever, etc. ; and, 
though they have lost a great many cases, it is strange the amount of confidence the pub¬ 
lic still retains in them. I met one the other day who did not believe in the administration 
of internal medicines, but is accustomed to slapping on a blister, with the remark that he 
has had twenty-four years’ experience in the business, and if this does not do he don't 
know what will. Yet the man has a yearly contract with an ice company manufacturing 
artificial ice, and they have twenty-six fine horses in the stable under his care, besides the 
rest of his practice in that section of the city. 
“ Besides this man, I have met a fellow claiming to be a specialist in castration— 
claiming to be the best in the United States, and a more slovenly, dirty farm-hand it would 
be almost impossible to meet. The woods here are full of just these kind of men, and yet 
a board of examiners, consisting of graduated veterinarians, appointed by the State, allow 
these men to pass a bogus examination, and to go forth with a State certificate, fully 
licensed to practice veterinary surgery and medicine. They can talk of their societies, 
and the promotion of harmony in a profession, but where could there be harmony, or 
friendly discussion, where one-half the members w r ould not understand what the other half 
were saying? 
“ I merely write this to give you some idea of the situation of things in the far West, 
and also some of the men I have to contend with. I think this place is at least twenty- 
five years behind the age in this profession, and no doubt it will take some time before the 
