164 
EDITORIAL. 
The United States Veterinary Medical Association. To realize 
this, to make of this meeting a success, the committee in 
charge have worked hard ; and, if we can judge by the com¬ 
munications and notices that have appeared in the Review 
and in the Journal of Comparative Medicine , the committee 
have done all that they thought was possible. Papers have 
been promised, traveling arrangements have been made, and 
a good programme has been laid out for a whole week. Yes, 
the committee deserve well, and it is to be hoped that success 
will be the result. And yet, when we carefully read the no¬ 
tices that have been published, it seemed to us that something 
was missing. We feared that something was wanted, and in that 
want we looked for danger. It appeared to us that if much was 
said of what the eastern veterinarians were about doing, 
not enough had been shown of what our friends in the west 
would contribute. We learned of papers promised by gentlemen 
in Pennsylvania, New York and Washington, but what about 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc. ? If there be good men in the 
East, are some not to be found also in the West? If the first 
were to be heard, would not the second be listened to? These 
are questions that present themselves to our mind, and we do 
not know but that we may be prompting unnecessarily for 
things which if neglected might be a bar to the successful 
issue of the meeting. 
However, while we are waiting and preparing ourselves 
for our western trip, we have received an open letter, directed 
to the secretary of the Association, from one of our colleagues, 
which seems to corroborate our fears. We hope that, severe 
as the letter is, it will prove a good warning and a prompt 
stimulus to take action to prevent the possible failure which 
threatens the next anniversary meeting of the Association. 
The letter of Dr. W. L. Williams reads as follows: 
[Open Letter]. 
Bloomington, Illinois, June 19th, 1890. 
Comitia Minora of United States Veterinary Medical Association , W. Horace 
Hoskins , I). V.S ., Secretary: 
Dear Sir: —Recognizing the desirability and need of a national society 
which should faithfully represent the veterinary profession of the United States, 
a number of western veterinarians some months ago asked you to hold the next 
