374 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
Is the desired legislation not intended as promulgatory to our 
profession by prohibiting all but qualified men to practice, or 
is it only urged by the graduates to assist them in eradicating 
quackery ? 
To answer these questions thoroughly would occupy too 
much time and space. 
The proposed legislation is certainly not intended to ex¬ 
clude from the profession all but graduates, for this would be 
certainly a mistake. But all we want and will and must ac¬ 
complish is the eradicating and extinction of “ quacks and 
quackery.” 
I draw a distinction between non-graduates and quacks, 
for I positively know that there are some competent, diligent, 
hard-working, honest non-graduates in existence who, through 
careful observation, long and tireless studying, at home 
and in the sick stall, have succeeded in gathering a knowl¬ 
edge so close to perfection as to make many a graduate 
blush. 
Observe such a practitioner in administering drugs to a 
sick animal and ask him about the drug he is using, and you 
will be surprised to hear with what accuracy and enthusiasm 
he describes its physiological actions in a common language— 
the Latin, of course, he don’t understand, for he was never for¬ 
tunate enough to obtain a college education. He is self-made, 
his knowledge and abilitv are founded on observation, patient 
studying and long experience, and he deserves to be ranked 
amongst his more fortunate professionals. He is no disgrace 
to the profession. The success in any business not onty de¬ 
pends on a theoretical knowledge of the same, but chiefly 
upon the practical ability; and such is emphatically the case 
in our profession. 
The genuine veterinarian is not made but born, and it is 
only him in whose veins horseman’s blood flows from infancy, 
and whose love and inclination to his profession is a gift of 
nature, who will make horsemanship a success. College edu¬ 
cation is secondary. 
But there is one kind of competitors who throw disgrace 
