214 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
these meetings has been somewhat of a selfish and exclusive 
character, contemplating, more than any other object, the 
benefit of those who were in attendance, unless, indeed, it 
was sheer and excessive modesty which has prevented their 
periodical transactions from finding their way outside of the 
meeting-halls and the banqueting-rooms of the cities where 
the meetings have been held. And probably this state of 
things would have continued for years to come, as it had 
already been perpetuated from the date of the organization 
in 1863, had it not been for the energy of one of its members, 
who for the last few years has filled the ungrateful position 
of secretary of the Association. Dr. W. H. Hoskins in this, 
which we hope for his own sake will be the last year of his 
secretaryship, will leave, when he resigns his office, not only a 
record that few men will successfully undertake to break, but 
has presented to the profession and to the public at large a 
book which will remain forever a monument to his profes¬ 
sional lore, to his enthusiasm for the promotion of the 
National Association, as well as to his devotion to whatever 
pertains to the elevation of American veterinary science. 
In editing the proceedings of the last two meetings, though 
directed to do so as Chairman of the Committee on Publica¬ 
tion, and on assuming and performing the entire work, we 
dare to say single-handed, Dr. Hoskins has not only collated 
the materials furnished at the meetings and arranged the 
papers read in their proper order, but has also supplemented 
the discussions following. Whether reports of committees, 
or motions, or amendments, nothing has been omitted, and if 
the readers of our veterinary journals remember all that they 
have seen in these periodicals, there is still something that 
can be found in the Proceedings , something of unusual value 
in records which carry us back twenty-nine years to the day 
when the Association was born in 1863. The book begins 
almost at the first page with a list of the presidents and offi¬ 
cers from the beginning, and this is followed by lists of the 
entire number of members who have joined the ranks of the 
Association from 1863 to 1893. The honorary list comes next, 
where the celebrated names of our profession, both at home 
