THE VETERINARIAN IN RELATION TO PUBLIC HEALTH.* 
By Harold E. Stearns, D.V.S., Arlington, N. J. 
The problems which are arousing the greatest interest in the 
veterinary profession to-day, are those which relate to the con¬ 
trol and eradication of the various infectious diseases of animals 
dnd to the safe-guarding of the meat and milk supply of the 
nation. 
In making this statement, it is not intended to detract from 
the importance of those subjects which relate essentially to gen¬ 
eral veterinary practice, or td the man who specializes in them; 
the humane service that he renders in alleviating the sufferings of 
our dumb animals and his economic value in preserving the life 
and usefulness of man’s most faithful and efficient servant, the 
horse, from diseases not due to infection is sufficient in itself to 
have earned for him the gratitude due a real benefactor of both 
man and beast. 
It is nevertheless the fact that the achievements of the vet¬ 
erinary profession, which will bring to it the greatest measure of 
'honor and distinction, will be those of the future along sanitary 
lines. 
Primarily a healer of the diseases of animals, occupying in 
the public estimation a position of importance measured by the 
value of the animal under treatment, permitted under the law, 
until recently, to practice without any scientific training what¬ 
ever. even in the most advanced communities, and still permitted 
to do so in some states, to the lasting shame of those responsible, 
the veterinarian has never received the respect and distinction ac¬ 
corded the practitioner of human medicine, upon whose skill and 
scientific attainments the preservation of human life was thought 
in a large measure to depend. 
* Presented to the Veterinary Medical Association of New Jersey, at Jersey City, 
July, 1912. 
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