342 
PROFESSOR LIAUTARD. 
of purchase, the one who consults you as to the quality and 
soundness of an animal, places on you a trust, which must not 
be measured by the value of the animal, but whose greatness is 
doubly increased, as it is not only to the man, but to the profes¬ 
sional man that it is given, and which on that account deserves 
the greatest care and most complete abnegation and disinterested¬ 
ness. He gives you a fee, and that must be the only pecuniary 
reward you can anticipate. Commission, gratifications recei\ ed 
from both hands, are breaches of trust that no respectable man 
can be guilty of, no matter what temptation may be presented. 
The veterinarian owes to the public, to his client, his faith¬ 
ful attendance, and often he is obliged to ignore pleasure, so¬ 
ciable relations, family gatherings, and even much needed rest to 
answer the call to attend the duties of his profession. In these, 
it is due to the client that the greatest care should be used in 
the diagnosis and prognosis of a disease, and in deciding as to 
the treatment of a patient. Let me point out the danger that 
may arise from an error of diagnosis, when this is made in a 
hurry, without having exhausted all the means of inquiries into 
a disease that are at our disposition. Better hesitate in making 
a diagnosis than to make one which has to be recognized wrong 
in the following twenty-four hours. As to the prognosis, how 
careful one must be. Not to be too positive is sometimes a 
o-reat advantage. Be careful of too much certainty in curing, 
or of too much positiveness in incurability. That both of these 
points are important, is too evident, and in duty to the client 
have to be carefully considered. 
Do not lack confidence in your ability to cure, if you see 
that the chances are in favor of the patient, and if the expenses 
are not to surpass its value. But, again, you will do better to 
decline to undertake treating an animal which by his diseased 
condition tells you that after you are through with him, he will 
be just as valueless. You may at first lose something by this, 
but in the end, I personally can assure you, it pays best. 
Duties towards your Patient .—If to the client you owe so 
much on account of the trust he places in you, to the patient, to 
