176 
D. P. YONKERMAN. 
may be said to be greater than that of any of those who have to 
officiate at this crisis. The duties incumbent upon him are those 
toward himself, his profession, his colleagues, the law, and the 
authorities. 
I will discuss them under their respective heads, beginning 
with the duties he owes to himself: 
The veterinary surgeon owes it to himself to study carefully 
these contagious diseases, to point out their dangers, and to indi¬ 
cate the best means for suppressing or arresting their progress. 
During an epizooty it is the duty of every one, and more par¬ 
ticularly of the veterinary surgeon, to bring every available re¬ 
source to bear in combatting it. This intervention on the part of 
the latter constitutes his share of social responsibility during the 
reign of these great public calamities. True, as Reynal justly re¬ 
marks, “ the veterinarian will not receive the applause and 
acknowledgments of the physician whose devotion and self-denial 
increase with the toil and danger that is incurred during an epid¬ 
emic among his own species,” but the part the former plays, if 
more modest, is not the less meritorious. 
In tendering his concurrence to the execution of the common 
task, the great and final aim of which is the welfare of the entire 
community, he is sure to find in the appreciation and sympathies 
of his fellow citizens the ample recompense which moves men to 
strive for the good of their fellow creatures. 
The veterinary surgeon has not only the dictates of humanity 
to inspire him, and which is the sole incentive of the physi¬ 
cian, but he has, in addition, those springing from the import¬ 
ance of his task in a monetary point of view. 
The national fortune, as far as animals are concerned, is more 
or less at stake, and also the comforts, nay, the very necessities 
of life of large numbers of people may depend upon his exer¬ 
tions ; the health of mankind may even be, and frequently is, en¬ 
dangered by r the outbreak of an animal plague. It is, therefore, 
a duty he owes to himself to cultivate his intelligence and to 
maintain those moral qualities which alone can enable him to ex¬ 
ercise his professional qualifications with credit to himself and 
advantage to others. His duties toward his profession are pretty 
