SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
PHILIPPINE VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
The fourth annual meeting of this association was held at 
the Young Men's Christian Association building, Manila, com¬ 
mencing at 9.50 a. m. on Friday, February 9, 1912. 
The meeting was called to order by the president, Dr. Archi¬ 
bald R. Ward, who stated that as our special guests had other 
pressing engagements which would not permit their remaining 
throughout the entire meeting, it was advisable that the associa¬ 
tion be favored with their addresses first. Thereupon the presi¬ 
dent introduced Hon. Newton W. Gilbert, Vice-Governor of the 
Philippine Islands and Secretary of Public Instruction, who ex¬ 
pressed his appreciation of the work that is being accomplished 
by the veterinarians, and of its importance, which is fundamental 
to the commercial and material development of the Philippines. 
Judge Gilbert laid particular stress upon the absolute necessity 
of popularizing the work of the veterinarians in the Archi¬ 
pelago, in order to encourage a certain number of qualified Fili¬ 
pinos to study veterinary medicine; also to encourage increasing 
cordiality between the veterinarians and the people with whom 
they come in contact. The secretary made special mention of 
the acquisition to the veterinary division of Dr. Victor Buenca- 
mino, who at his own expense took the initiative by acquiring 
a veterinary degree, which was very commendable. 
In response to Judge Gilbert’s excellent address, the Director 
of Agriculture, Mr. F. W. Taylor, who recently came to the 
islands, expressed himself as being agreeably surprised at the 
conditions in general in the islands and the Filipino people in 
particular, and laid special emphasis upon the importance of co¬ 
operation between the veterinarians and the Filipinos, in order 
to accomplish the desired result of eradicating communicable 
animal diseases in the Philippine Islands. Mr. Taylor enumer¬ 
ated some of the difficulties that will be encountered in obtaining 
the necessary appropriations for the Bureau of Agriculture, but 
assured the veterinarians that he would do all that is possible to 
assist them in carrying on the campaign, as outlined, against the 
many diseases that affect the domestic animals of the Archi- 
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