DEONTOLOGY. 
341 
their clients ? If, in our profession, the ordinary rules of 
medical ethics were adopted and folloAved, consultations 
would be far more frequent with manifest advantage to 
patients, clients and practitioners. We must confess that 
there is a marked absence of that esprit de corps which should 
exist among members of the same profession. How frequently 
we hear one veterinary surgeon holding up his brother practi¬ 
tioner to ridicule in public places, and taking a delight in 
describing the errors and ignorance of the latter. Not that 
it enhances the reputation of the would-be judge, critic, and 
sometimes slanderer, with educated people ; often it has the 
opposite effect. But the intention is always evident, viz., self¬ 
laudation, and jealousy, and the keener the competition, the 
greater the amount of this un-professional element which is 
introduced. 
No doubt there are many who will deny the frequency of 
such occurrences as the above, and who imagine that profes¬ 
sional etiquette is advancing with the other improvements in 
our calling. Unfortunately we are only too familiar with 
gross breaches of etiquette, not involuntary, but deliberate ; 
and when one practitioner goes out of his way to injure the 
reputation of another and evinces an utter disregard for truth 
in his statements, we are forced to the conclusion that a code 
of moral and professional ethics is urgently needed by veter¬ 
inary surgeons. We know how careful the members of the 
medical profession are in this respect, and how in consulta¬ 
tions as well as in all professional matters the rules of etiquette 
are strictly observed. In the veterinary profession there is 
ample room for reformation in this respect, and if strict 
etiquette were observed we would find that clients would sel¬ 
dom ask one practitioner to attend a case which at the same 
time was under the care of another, without informing the 
latter. But the public are often keen observers, and when 
they see that veterinary surgeons themselves disregard the 
ordinary rules of etiquette, instead of asking for a consulta- 
/ tion, they prefer to transfer the case to another practitioner 
if it is not progressing in a satisfactory manner. 
The remedy is in the hands of members of the profession, 
