A DISCUSSION OF THE RETORT ON VETERINARY EDUCATION. 279 
The rapidity of the American spirit has cast upon us the same 
problems within a few years, and there can be no longer any 
doubt that we are fast approaching a crisis. Whatever will be 
its outcome, it will largely depend upon the wisdom and con¬ 
servatism of our leading professional men. 
Prof. Liautard suggests in his report that we now have 
two classes of colleges: Individual or corporation schools, which 
are supported by the fees of students, and schools which are 
connected with universities and supported by the state. While 
such classification is correct in one sense, morally our colleges 
group together differently. There are the three-year colleges, 
most of which are now fairly good veterinary schools, and a 
few of them even stand comparison with some of the old insti¬ 
tutions abroad. By right of nature, these three-year schools 
form one class, and the graduates of these schools represent 
the scientific veterinarians of America. The two-year schools 
naturally form the second and lower class, and are of very 
different make-up. One or two of the old two-term schools 
have done good work in years gone by and actually fulfilled a 
mission: they have sent out a sort of rough-and-tumble practi¬ 
tioner, but a man with a ready practical judgment and eminently 
fitted for the peculiar needs of this country in rimes past. Some 
of these men, by their perseverence, honest principles and con¬ 
stant self-education have met with wonderful success; but the 
bulk of them never overstepped the limits of a humble horse- 
doctor, and resemble the graduated farrier of Europe of olden 
times. 
Quite different are the younger two-term schools; they are 
money-making diploma-mills, a distinctly American species. 
With a few exceptions, the offspring of these schools resemble 
the clown-like charlatan of mediaeval times, as pictured to us in 
historical novels. They are talkative, self-praising, overbear¬ 
ing and ill-bred men; of course they are uneducated and 
unprincipled. They noisily spread their diploma all over crea¬ 
tion, publicly explain their lengthy degree, and announce 
that their school teaches new methods of treatment. They 
