VETERINARY EDUCATION IN AMERICA. 
441 
such I have no fault to find with it; but if it neither considers 
nor is expected to consider, the question of veterinary educa¬ 
tion, why in the name of common sense is it called a committee 
on education? If the duties of this committee do include the 
consideration of the important question of veterinary educa¬ 
tion, is it not about time something - was done to arouse it to a 
proper appreciation of its responsibility. Or, if on the other 
hand, its duties do not include the consideration of this question 
is it not about time the Association awoke from its Rip Van 
Winkle sleep and created a committee that may be known for 
something more than official incapacity ? I do not desire to 
occupy too much of your space with “caustic criticism,” but 
feeling that more active work should be done towards elevat¬ 
ing the standard of veterinary education in America, I ask 
permission to call the attention of the profession to a few of 
the improvements most needed. 
The first evil I desire to notice is that of matriculating men 
possessing not even the rudiments of a general education. I 
have letters in my possession, received from veterinarians, 
that as examples of profound ignorance of the most common 
rules of orthography and syntax seem almost incredible. For 
instance, a graduate of a college that claims to exact evidence 
of a “good English education” from applicants for member¬ 
ship, persists in spelling mare, mdir . One from another col¬ 
lege, who also writes M.D. after his name, is quite sure that 
uterus should be written utrus. And one from another college, 
who also holds the commission of one of the State Governors, 
as Assistant State Veterinarian, seems to think quarintene the 
proper way to spell quarantine , and that contagos is an improve¬ 
ment on contagious . Still another who holds the diploma of 
a “ legally organized ” veterinary college, is actually guilty of 
perpetrating the following, “ My bisness is bigger this year 
than it were last.” Does not this sentence suggest rather a 
sad reflection on the public intelligence? Does it not reflect 
disgrace upon every veterinarian in America? To what pur¬ 
pose is all this fine talk about elevating the veterinary profes¬ 
sion to its proper social standing, when such hopeless illiteracy 
is to be found in its ranks? Especially, since I assure you, 
