THE VETERINAUY SURGEON IN THE U. S. ARMY. 
415 
the troopers call an infantryman, of each cavalry regiment. He 
is not allowed a mount nor forage for one, and has to depend on 
the good nature of a troop commander for transportation, or else 
ride with a mule driver on the jockey-box of an army wagon. In 
this, again, he stands forth, the missing link between the cavalry 
and infantry arms of the service. 
In was only a few months ago that the writer had the humili¬ 
ation of standing by while an officer asked the veterinary sur¬ 
geon (a very competent gentlemen) if he was properly treating a 
certain animal on the sick report, or if he understood his busi¬ 
ness. 
The veterinary surgeon in the United States army is an her¬ 
maphrodite. He is neither a soldier nor a citizen. He is compelled 
to wear the uniform of a soldier if the commanding officer so 
wills it, or, if the officer in command cares not, he may dress in a 
gunny-sack suit if he chooses. * * * And, in the face of all this, 
there is a college I know of, situated not a thousand miles from 
the city of New York, who claims to have the exclusive privi¬ 
lege—save the mark !—of furnishing their graduates with posi¬ 
tions ! In the United States army, the graduate who has the 
misfortune to secure such a position has the sincere sympathy of 
the writer. 
It will be remarked: Cannot this state of affairs be easily 
remedied? It certainly cannot so long as the members of the 
profession remain dormant and permit graduates to debase them¬ 
selves by entering this service, where there is no veterinary or¬ 
ganization whatever, no incentive to study, no practice (the farrier 
takes care of that), nothing to look forward to in the shape of 
promotion; the only object being to kill time and wait for to¬ 
morrow. Can the veterinary surgeon in the army be blamed for 
being dissatisfied ? Can he be blamed for anathematizing the 
army each day of his existence ? Can he be blamed for marking 
the day he entered the United States army with the significant 
emblem of a skull and crossed bones ? It is the opinion of the 
writer he can not. But, you will say, can’t he leave? He cer¬ 
tainly can and does, which is why there is always a vacancy for 
some unsophisticated youngster. There are only two old men 
