PENNSYLVANIA STATE BOARD OF VETERINARY MEDICAL EXAMINERS. 439 
laws would not reach. But) the worst menace is comparatively 
a new one, viz., the invasion of the field by large numbers of 
men with correspondence school diplomas. Said diplomas are 
conferred for any price from ten dollars to fifty dollars, upon 
any and all applicants who answer printed questions with answers 
appended. To pass an examination the would-be student answers 
some of the questions given him without answers appended. The 
real object of the procedure is to get rich quick, but as there is 
no guaranteed value received, the scheme is basely fraudulent 
and an injustice not only to the student but to the public. Under 
existing protective laws this class of offenders can be easily 
reached and punished. Thus the work of prosecution of illegal 
practitioners is as much a necessity to-day as it was seventeen 
years ago and demonstrates that the profession cannot yet dis¬ 
pense with the active services of its Board of Veterinary Medical 
Examiners. 
It is pertinent here to inquire whether the laws governing 
the practice of veterinary medicine and surgery in Pennsylvania 
can be reasonably modified or improved for the benefit of the 
profession. In section 9 of the laws of 1895 the power to prose¬ 
cute is placed wholly in the hands of the Board. The Board 
shall be the prosecutor in each case. It has been suggested that 
any person concerned throughout the state should also be per¬ 
mitted to be a prosecutor. It is believed that this would lighten 
the burden of the Board in the matter of prosecution and be an 
economic factor in obtaining results without the expenditure 
of much money. 
This plausible view, however, may rightly be regarded with 
more or less suspicion. No doubt the persons who framed that 
portion of our laws wisely discerned that a new law enforced 
by the public might be seriously injured or possibly killed by 
injudicious suits—suits based upon revenge, prejudice or hear¬ 
say. It appeared to the law-makers that more dignity would 
inure to the good of the profession if the State Board was prose¬ 
cutor and that the effect of the prosecution would be more far- 
reaching. We cannot refrain from commending this view and 
