SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
229 
tlieir own income and profit. The position that the veterinary 
profession has taken in regard to bovine tuberculosis has been 
the ground for some bitter attacks upon ns, bnt has alienated no 
true friend of the dairy farmer. The attacks which have been 
made upon ns in this connection are not without precedents. 
When it became necessary a number of years ago for the Govern¬ 
ment and for states to adopt measures which would exterminate 
contagious pleuro-pnemnonia in cattle, which at that time 
threatened the cattle industry and its millions of invested capi¬ 
tal, the necessary inspections and restrictions were met by the 
strongest opposition, vituperation and sometimes physical resis¬ 
tance. The leading veterinarian of New York State was de¬ 
nounced as a conspirator against the dairy and a seeker for 
personal gain at the expense of the public. The opposition to 
this work was in some cases so bitter as to drive able men from 
the field. 
Their motives were misrepresented, acts distorted and 
methods ridiculed, but what was the result ? Contagious pleuro¬ 
pneumonia, which has caused untold misery and loss in 
European countries, in Africa and Australia, has been completely 
exterminated from our soil, and at a cost infinitely small when 
compared with the inevitable effects of the disease if efficient 
means had not been adopted. But in England, where the only 
efficient method could not be enforced, on account of adverse 
public sentiment, the disease persisted and continued its devasta¬ 
tions for years, until it was found that the original recommenda¬ 
tions of the veterinary profession must be acted upon, after which 
progress was rapid. In reference to rinderpest, foot-and-mouth 
disease, eldurine, glanders, sheep-scab, and many other diseases, 
striking and convincing illustrations of the same sort might be 
cited, all of which tend to show that as regards the subjects 
which properly come within the scope of the veterinary pro¬ 
fession, its opinions are reasonable and safe. 
We should, therefore, strenuously avoid any action that is not 
well considered and thoroughly sifted before official and formal 
opinion is expressed upon it. We must spread out broader and 
prepare ourselves more fully to perform the public duties that 
will soon be incumbent upon us. Meat inspection, dairy inspec¬ 
tion and milk inspection are subjects that are growing in impor¬ 
tance. Affairs that required no public supervision a few years 
ago must now, for the welfare of the public, be subjected to some 
sort of control. There was a time when every consumer could 
trace each article of home consumption to its source and deter- 
