CORRESPONDENCE. 
577 
cases. In traumatic tetanus the day of heroic medication has 
passed with us. We aim to inform ourselves as to nature’s 
methods and then as far as possible imitate them. In tetanus, 
by supporting the powers of nature, through mild and san¬ 
ative processes, we carry the patient through to a safe termi¬ 
nation of the disease. 
I asked a non-graduate what veterinary works he re¬ 
garded as the best. He replied that he read all, and what 
accorded with common sense in any of them he accepted. 
Within the last two years there dropped suddenly into 
our midst a European graduate, with three diplomas, a silk 
hat and a pocket full of cigarettes. He was free in his denun- * 
ciation of this “blarsted ” country, and recommended all non¬ 
graduates to “go west” as he was about to “ occupy the 
land.” He began his display of knowledge and skill by 
tackling an old and confirmed ringbone that even a quack 
would know was incurable. He gave it fits in the way of 
burning. The leg swelled to the body and on the eighth day 
the horse died of lockjaw. In another case he opened the 
bursal sac to reduce the enlargement of a thorough-pin. 
Death ensued. His glib tongue failed to satisfy the owners 
that he had not been guilty of malpractice; and he departed 
leaving behind him a remembrance in the shape of an unpaid 
board bill. I have since learned that he is now occupying 
the honorable position, so well suited to his attainments, of 
janitor to a livery stable in a western city. 
The stock men of the west are well versed in their busi¬ 
ness and not easily imposed upon. They can recognize a 
fraud even under a silk hat, and they can discern ability 
under a homespun jacket. Doubtless there are non-gradu¬ 
ates practising veterinary with no mental equipments other 
than they were born with, and to whom nature exhibited no 
liberality in this regard; but they deceive very few. The 
man who understands his business, whether graduated from 
a veterinary college or from the school of experience, will, as 
we say out west, get there with both feet. 
The knowledge needed cannot be acquired by a few years’ 
study of books. This must be supplemented by practice; 
