544 
D. LEMAY. 
duties render them so liable, is such as to deter respectable, ef¬ 
ficient, or talented professional men from entering, or, having 
entered, remaining in the service. 
The Board of 1879 decided that “ all Army Veterinarians 
must be graduates of reputable colleges or schools,” nevertheless 
four of the best appointments are, at present, in the hands of 
quacks and empirics. 
On the arrival at their post of ninety (90) remount horses,- 
purchased in 1885, a casual professional examination revealed 
seventeen (17) of them affected wtth various chronic diseases, 
which not only rendered them worthless for military purposes, 
but reduced their pecuniary value at least seventy-five per cent, 
below what thev cost the Government. 
«v 
Appointments as Army Veterinarians are in the hands of 
regimental commanders, who, from individual idiosyncrasies, 
frequently have difficulty in retaining them, and thus cavalry 
regiments, whose animals may be valued at one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars ($150,000), are frequently, for long periods, 
without professional assistance, often resulting in serious losses. 
Instanced in the First Cavalry, in 1876, where an outbreak of 
“ glanders” lasted two years, causing the sacrifice of several human 
lives as well as animals, and was only finally suppressed on the 
appointment of a skillful veterinarian, who found it necessary to 
order the destruction of horses and property valued at fifty thou¬ 
sand dollars ($50,000). 
The Act of Congress specially states “ that each cavalry regi¬ 
ment shall have one Veterinary Surgeon,” nevertheless many 
regiments are frequently, for long periods, not so provided. 
The Board of 1879 recommended as a measure of economy 
that a Veterinarian be stationed at every large garrison. 
Veterinary education comprises a three years curriculum, an 
expenditure of about three thousand dollars ($3,000), and more 
subjects are as minutely studied than in human medicine, viz.: 
botany, mineralogy, physics, chemistry, analysis of food and water, 
physiology, histology, pathological anatomy, general pathology 
(human, equine, ovine, bovine, canine and feline), medicines, 
therapeutics, soundness of animals, dietetics, buying and selling, 
