PENNSYLVANIA STATE BOARD OF VETERINARY MEDICAL EXAMINERS. 437 
educational growth and legislation affecting the future of the 
veterinary profession in the state and nation. 
The scope and usefulness of the veterinary profession is not 
sufficiently comprehended even by the majority of veterinarians. 
It presents a vast field for observation, experiment and discov¬ 
ery. The intimate relation of this branch of medicine to the 
larger live stock and dairy interests of this country; to the science 
of the production of improved breeds in all classes of the do¬ 
mestic animals, the study of foods and feeding to secure better 
results; the problem of the production of force and the conserva¬ 
tion of energy in all classes of draught animals; the care of the 
domestic animals in health and disease; the study of the control 
and eradication of contagious and infectious plagues so destruct¬ 
ive to animal life and property; the fact that certain animal dis¬ 
eases are communicable to the human family and that diseases 
may be spread through the medium of meat and milk; the ques¬ 
tion of the cleanliness of animal food products, as well as their 
freedom from disease taint; the problem of the production of 
the best quality of animal food calculated to nourish and sustain 
human life; the contribution the veterinary profession is capable 
of making to solve the problem of the production of higher grade 
and more intelligent animals either for work or to afford pleas¬ 
ure, make plain the question why the existence and proper en¬ 
forcement of wholesome laws to protect this important, field of 
observation and work are a paramount necessity. 
The State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners of Penn¬ 
sylvania was organized nearly seventeen years ago. Has it ac¬ 
complished anything? Institutions, like individuals, either go 
forward or backward. The moment no advancement is made 
the law of retrogression begins to assert itself. 
The Board has uniformly and conscientiously, during all 
these years, fulfilled the duties for which it was created. It 
has been aggressive and enforced the law without fear or favor. 
It has won difficult cases in the courts and obtained legal de¬ 
cisions on obscure points that tend to render more clear the 
meaning of the law, recognizing it as sound in principle and 
