684 • 
W. H. PENDRY. 
one of the most vital to the profession and deserving your full 
and most serious attention. 
Some few years ago I tried, in a rough way, to bring about 
a discussion on veterinary education, but very imperfectly 
succeeded, for what reason I do not know. Perhaps it was that 
comments might have added a further blur to the poor opin¬ 
ion that many have of some graduates, whose very diversity 
of knowledge lends color to the impression that the common 
educational ability has a remarkably wide range. Why this 
condition of affairs? Why this silent taunt at so noble and so 
scientific a profession, whose field of usefulness and work has 
such an immense range, is hard to conceive. Doubtless the 
vast difference between an ordinary veterinary surgeon and 
an educated veterinarian is as yet beyond the comprehension 
of the general public. As a rule the one’s usefulness is limi¬ 
ted to his particular line; the other knows no bounds in the 
field of his profession, whose extensiveness lies beyond the 
imagination of an ordinary mind and can only be conceived by 
an ideal realization or a scientifically educated person. 
How often do those who are loyal to their profession be¬ 
come disgruntled with their own knowledge and absolutely 
disgusted with that displayed by others! Do not imagine 
that I here intend to start out on a crusade against the differ¬ 
ent schools of this or any other country, in contending that 
this one or that one has turned loose those who have helped 
to germinate such an idea as the foregoing, yet 1 cannot re¬ 
frain from saying generally that therein may lie some of the 
cause; still 1 consider there is a more direct cause, in that I 
believe that the existence of so many veterinary schools—and 
how many have sprung up within the last ten or fifteen years, 
either as an appendage to other institutions or even veteri¬ 
nary colleges dependent upon their speculative results,—has 
created a dangerous competition, and so much has this been 
the case that in many instances there has sprung up such 
rivalry that that very spirit if left alone, to run its own natur¬ 
al course, which lies so close to the crater that the slightest 
volcanic eruption might bring down such a shower of public 
contempt that the profession would be buried more deeply 
than Pompeii, 
