U. S. VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
397 
in our veterinary schools, for the reasons that our text-books are not up to the 
times, and that in most of our veterinary schools a cram course of study is given, 
and in no other way can so much be crammed into a student in the least possible 
space of time as by the didactic lecture. 
As a student I was very fond of listening to lectures, much preferring them 
to reading. A well arranged course of lectures can be compared to a boy with a 
plum cake having his nurse pull out the plums, one by one, and feed them to 
him ; while a student reading can be compared to the same boy without a nurse, 
he having to overhaul a good deal of cake to get a few plums—the plums being 
the useful and interesting facts, the rest of the cake being the extraneous matter 
which it may be a waste of time for the student to read, and yet which he will 
read if his eiforts are not wisely directed. 
Before proceeding further, I wish to make another criticism on members of 
the profession. It is the readiness with which some men read articles written for 
the daily papers on scientific medical subjects, and accept them as valuable facts, 
such as arguments against the germ theory of disease, and the like. Remember 
that the “doctors” who write for the newspapers are men who have no easy ac¬ 
cess to the columns of current medical literature, and that their opinions and 
arguments carry very little weight with members of their own profession; it 
would be much better for the eager seeker after truth to confine his scientific 
reading to veterinary and scientific magazines of acknowledged good character, 
and leave newspaper science for the perusal of the laity—if members of that 
great body choose to waste time reading such articles. 
Another factor for educating the veterinary practitioner is the Veterinary 
Association. Most States where there are any number of veterinarians, now have 
their veterinary societies ; some States have more than one, and in some few in¬ 
stances certain State Associations have combined with their colleagues in neighbor¬ 
ing States, to form inter-State Associations. These organizations are capable of 
doing much good to the profession in various ways. If members will take the 
pains to write good papers for the meetings, these essays and the discussions fol¬ 
lowing them are of benefit to the practitioner from an educational standpoint. 
The careful reporting of interesting cases occurring in the practice of different 
members is also of value in this connection. In addition to the above it should 
create a feeling of good fellowship and esprit-de-corps in the profession, and also 
form a valuable basis for co-operation when any work is to be undertaken for the 
advancement of veterinary science. 
Every veterinarian who takes any interest in his work beyond the dollars 
and cents he can make out of it, should belong to the local veterinary society 
where he resides, as well as to the great National organization meeting here to 
day and to-morrow. In joining a veterinary association the practitioner should 
not join from a selfish motive, for his own personal aggrandizement, to advertise 
himself in any way, or to use it as a lever to gain a political position, but he 
should enter for the purpose of becoming better acquainted with his colleagues, 
adding to his education and doing all he can in a generous, unselfish way, for the 
advancement of a noble and useful profession. 
The next points of interest to be considered are the results of the circulars 
sent to Assistsnt State Secretaries, asking them for information concerning legis- 
