THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE BOARD OF VETERINARY 
MEDICAL EXAMINERS, ITS WORK AND ITS NEEDS.* 
By Jacob Helmer, D.V.S., Scranton, Pa. 
In the development of veterinary medicine and surgery, 
animal hygiene, meat and milk inspection, protective sanitary 
legislation, and in the enforcement of laws governing veterinary 
practice, Pennsylvania ranks second to no other state, and along 
a few lines of progress she stands alone in the foreground. 
Thirty years ago, graduated veterinary surgeons were few 
and were to be found almost wholly in large cities and towns. 
Opportunities for veterinary education at that time were few 
and the college curriculum very deficient. 
In 1882 a few practitioners in Philadelphia met and formed 
a corporate society known as the State Veterinary Medical Asso¬ 
ciation, and thus began the organization of the profession in 
Pennsylvania. Subsequently, the Keystone Association was 
formed and county organizations in the more thickly populated 
sections throughout the state. Simultaneously with this prog¬ 
ress, new veterinary schools began to make their appearance, 
the veterinary department of the University having been estab¬ 
lished in 1883. At that time the title of Veterinary Surgeon 
was comparatively little used, although the title of V.S. or D.V.S. 
was given by the few veterinary schools then in, operation. A 
man who treated animals was among laymen generally known 
as a Horse Doctor. While this is true to-day, yet it is much 
less so, and the change began with the introduction of laws 
calculated to govern and protect the profession and practice of 
veterinary medicine and surgery. 
To organize the profession and to pass laws to safeguard and 
protect all its interests was the first work of the State Associa¬ 
tion. In other words, to define who should and who should not 
* Read before the Pennsylvania State Veterinary Medical Association, Philadelphia, 
March, 1912. 
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