CORRESPONDENCE. 
541 
from one ounce to one and a half pounds, being found in the 
alimentary canal of a colt. H. Fulstow, of Elyria, Ohio, then 
read a report of a case of “ Constipation,” and the meetin°- 
adjourned to meet on Oct. 27th. J. S. Grove, Secretary. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
SUITABLE MEMBERS FOR THE U.S.V.M.A. 
In leading* the editorial in the October edition of the Re¬ 
view, with regard to suitable and unsuitable candidates for 
admission to membership of the U.S.V.M.A., I notice the re- 
mark made, “ Several of our two-year colleges graduate men 
who are not able to read or write the English language, and 
are total strangers to other tongues.” 
Then follows the question, “ Are they suitable for member¬ 
ship ? ” Now, I do not see why this remark should refer only 
to two-year college graduates. If a man takes a course in a 
three-year college, and is as deficient in ordinary education as 
the two-year man, will he be able to read and write any better 
when he graduates ? Certainly we do not find instruction in 
the three R.’s embraced in the curriculum of any veterinary 
college, and he is not apt to improve his writing by taking 
notes. If the standard of the matriculation examinations is 
increased, there will be no need for this question at all. 
I cannot help thinking that the reason the veterinary sur¬ 
geon of to-day is not always treated with the respect that he 
might be (as few will deny), is because many are so illiterate 
that they are unable to command that respect. The druggist 
sneers at some veterinary surgeon’s prescriptions, and the 
physician is surprised that when he sends for a veterinary 
surgeon he is unable to converse grammatically about the 
case. The remedy for this is not to give the student another 
year at the veterinary college, but to give him another year 
at a grammar school before he enters the college at all. 
If the matriculation examinations at veterinary colleges 
were of such a nature that only,men of good education could 
gain admission to them, then this stumbling block to the pro 
fession would be removed forever. 
