358 
R. S. HUIDEKOPE R. 
the turtle, must drag itself from a lowly origin. Its advance 
must be slow, through the mire of public prejudice, entangled 
by the reeds of quackery on all sides; when in clear water it 
must not resent attacks, but draw in for the moment, safe in 
its own solid usefulness, to come to the surface again and 
climb to the shore at the proper time. But, as I said, my 
turtle had done nothing, and I was in despair. Then I took 
to studying turtles. Terrapin looked the most attractive to 
begin with, but it has only one use. The great, green turtle 
does not live in my neighborhood, and I could not investigate 
its qualities. However, the mud turtle abounds, and the 
more I become acquainted with this noble animal, the closer 
I find the relationship between it and our Association to be. 
Gentlemen, the mud turtle has good qualities, and when in¬ 
duced to move is capable of going long distances, but it has 
one sad trait—it is lazy. 
I then wondered if only I and the committees I had ap¬ 
pointed for the last year were also lazy, or if it was an Asso¬ 
ciation characteristic. 1 went back to the records and with 
your permission will replace an account of what we have not 
done during the last year by a summary of what has been 
done before us for a quarter century, and an outline of what 
we may do in the next. 
Formation United States Veterinary Medical Associ¬ 
ation. 
First Meeting, 1863.—On the ninth of June, 1863, accord¬ 
ing to a previous arrangement, a large number of veterinary 
surgeons and practitioners met at the Astor House, New 
York. . Wm. A. Wisdom, of Delaware, stated the object of 
the meeting and read the minutes of two meetings which 
had been held in Philadelphia the previous year. Dr. John 
Busteed, of New York, was appointed Chairman to organize 
the meeting, and R. Jennings, of Bordentown, was appointed 
Secretary. 
The following States were represented at this first meet¬ 
ing : New York by John Busteed, A. S. Copeman, R. H. 
Curtis, A. Liautard, A. Large, Louis Brandt, C. C. Price, W. 
