EDITORIAL. 
531 
step by step, from the first examinations of the cadaver to the 
external divisions of the various regions; then to the study of 
the different structures; of the organs of the abdomen; of the 
thorax and the cranial cavity. In the plan recommended and de¬ 
scribed by Dr. Clement, nothing can escape attention, and the 
result must be such a record of the post mortem as shall possess 
true value as a practical history of the lesions as they are found 
and their relations to the fatal result which has occurred. Veter¬ 
inarians of to-day may learn much by the reading of the three 
cases which are recorded in the work. The proper preparation of 
a written report is not always a matter of easy accomplishment, 
and it is a part of veterinary education which, we are afraid, is 
much neglected in our American schools, notwithstanding the 
fact that it ranks amongst the most important of our professional 
duties. The record of an autopsy is a matter of too great im¬ 
portance to be loosely or incorrectly prepared. To the individ¬ 
ual practitioner it may be merely a confirmation of a diagnosis, 
but if with it is connected the detailed report of a case, including 
the history, the cause, the symptoms and even the treatment, it 
then becomes a part of the practical knowledge and experimental 
evidence which form the material of which the science of posi¬ 
tive pathology is composed, and enters at once into the mass of 
the facts which form the finished structure of medical science. 
The brevity of our space forbids our entering into the minute 
consideration of Dr. Clement’s contribution to the Deference 
Handbook, but we say without hesitation, that the merits of this 
part of the work alone are sufficient to entitle it to a place in the 
library of all veterinarians. Doctor Clement has given us to 
understand that he has in contemplation a publication on the 
same subject, enlarged into book form, and we hope, for the ben¬ 
efit of our friends, that he will not disappoint the expectation he 
has raised. 
Notice. —The next semi-annual meeting of the United States 
Veterinary Medical Association will take place on the 19th, or 
the third Tuesday, of March, in Boston. The well known ener¬ 
gy of Dr. K. Huidekoper, the President, furnishes [a sufficient 
guaranty of the interest and importance which will doubtless 
