112 
W. Y. WILLIAMS 
in flaming colors, their spelling of “ veterinary” being frequently 
original, if not comic. 
They prospered, they increased, they multiplied, their num¬ 
bers seeming inexhaustible, always keeping pace, in numbers, with 
the increase of live-stock, and frequently exceeding the demand. 
Owners of diseased animals were left to the mercy, in almost 
every locality, of these unprincipled charlatans, who used the 
popular ignorance upon veterinary matters for their financial ben¬ 
efit, and soon became adepts at dispelling “ wolf in the tail,” “ hol¬ 
low horn,” and “ loss of cud,” in cows; u moon eyes,” “ hooks ” 
and “ chest founder ” in horses, and aggregations of currency in 
people’s pockets. 
The ignorance of the general public seemed so profound that 
many apparently thought veterinarians were merely born so, and 
scarcely thought of the existence or need of veterinary colleges 
for their theoretical and practical education, and from this state 
of affairs, as well as the character of the men claiming to be vet¬ 
erinary surgeons, developed the idea—which still exists to some 
extent—that veterinarians cannot and need not be gentlemen, and 
this feeling has exerted a powerful influence against the adoption 
of the veterinary profession as a vocation by worthy men. 
Among the more intelligent of stock owners there gradually 
grew, however, a desire for more rational treatment of diseases 
of live stock, and to assist them in attaining some of the rudi¬ 
ments of veterinary science and enable them to cope with some 
of the common ailments, they turned to the popular and then use¬ 
ful writings of Youatt, Spooner, Clater and others ; and slowly, 
the stockman became more or less skilled in the diseases of ani¬ 
mals, and his services were demanded and obtained by the neigh¬ 
borhood. 
In the meantime the educated veterinarian from abroad slow¬ 
ly made his presence more favorably felt in his immediate vicinity, 
and among the best classes there grew a demand for more quali¬ 
fied men, but from whence should they come ? The prospective 
honors and emoluments were not such as to permanently attract 
many first class men to our shores, and amongst the arrivals 
many were doubtless inefficient, but there were some men of solid 
