THE PROFESSION <• ’WAY DOWN SOUTH.” 
201 
illiteracy quackery, etc., will be benefited, and his eyes will 
be opened to the fact that the veterinarian is the practitioner 
of a branch of medicine, based upon a knowledge of physiology, 
pathology, and therapeutics, similar, although we might say of 
wider range, from a medical standpoint, on account of the vari¬ 
ous types of animals with which he has to deal, than his brother 
in the field of medicine which embraces only the human species. 
Progress is slow in the education of the laity to the appre¬ 
ciation of the importance of the profession as conservers of 
public health and wealth. Such work must devolve upon the 
representatives of the profession, and cannot but result in per¬ 
sonal benefit, as well as the elevation of our branch of medicine 
to its rightful level of one of the learned professions. 
There is an old and widely prevalent belief among the laity, 
as well as a great many human practitioners, who are encased 
in a limited sphere of knowledge concerning their own special 
branch only, that there is a mystery encircling the principles 
and practice of veterinary medicine and surgery as compared 
with that of the human subject. This, of course, can be ac¬ 
counted for by the long practised “ humbugism ” indulged in by 
the ignorant quack, to cover up his own want of knowledge, as 
well^ as to throw mystery around his so-called specifics and 
operations, and contracted knowledge and research on the 
part of some of our M.D.’s. from the standpoint of comparative 
medicine. We believe we are justified in making this latter as¬ 
sertion, when we state that we have been asked the question by 
a dean of a medical college, if a horse ever had pneumonia ? 
and was told by another that he was not aware that cattle ever 
suffered from tuberculosis until he read it in a veterinary peri¬ 
odical within six months. 
The work of elevating our profession by our graduates to 
the level where recognition and appreciation of it is forced upon 
the people, is perhaps a laborious one, but, if ever it is to take 
its legitimate place among the other learned professions in the 
South the work must be begun and completed by those who 
are qnalified members of it. 
