76 
HON. O. P. HAWES. 
physician. But what shall be said of the educated man who 
can reason upon the subject and who knows that his horse 
really requires more capable skill than his child, if he would 
effect a cure ? This may seem a broad statement, but it is 
true and will soon be recognized. The world nroves, and 
what Henry Bergh did for the temporary amelioration of the 
brute creation, some other man will do for their permanent 
protection and safety, as well as for the protection and safety 
of the community. It may be a life-work, as it was in his 
case, but that it is coming, and coming soon, is as sure as the 
rising of the sun in the morning. 
Now, Gentlemen of the Graduating Class, this discussion 
of the great subject may seem a digression, but I think it 
fraught with deep import to you. You belong to a very old 
and honored profession ; as old as that of human medicine. 
The Egyptians were thoroughly versed in veterinary 
medicine and veterinary surgery. Four hundred years be¬ 
fore Christ, Hippocrates wrote essays on the subject, and two 
hundred years before Christ, Mago, of Carthage, compiled and 
published twenty-eight volumes—a veritable library of infor¬ 
mation and learning. The Greeks and the Romans had their 
schools of veterinary medicine, so to speak, and the veterinary 
surgeon held recognized rank in the Roman armies. In mod¬ 
ern Europe, as I have already said, the profession is honored 
and respected, and you are called upon to see that in this 
country its high reputation is maintained. Upon you rests 
the responsibility of educating the community to the great 
importance of these things. To do that you must first be 
educated yourself—educated to the baptismal sense of the 
dignity and importance of your profession, and this shall come 
to you all, and to the community in which you may reside 
when you deal with your business on a high professional 
plane. Thomas Arnold says that a teacher should be first a 
Christian; second a gentleman ; third a scholar. If this ideal 
is in any sense realized, the horse doctor will no longer bear 
a stigma, but he will soon be recognized as the protector of 
the health of the community and the conservator of its in¬ 
vested wealth. 
