WHY HOT BE A VETERINARY SURGEON. 
321 
Many a farmer’s son in stock-breeding districts, or near 
populous localities, might take up the study of veterinary 
medicine with a view to supplementing work on the farm by 
the practice of this profession. Outside of cities and large 
towns he would not find enougfi to do to depend upon the 
profession as a sole means of support. 
The expense of obtaining a veterinary education varies 
with circumstances. Does the student live in the city where 
the school is situated, and can he reside at home free of ex¬ 
pense to himself? Or does he come from a distance and have 
to pay for board ? Of course, in either case the cost of tuition 
and text-books, note-books and stationery is the same. One 
hundred to one hundred and twenty-five dollars per annum 
for tuition, and forty or fifty dollars for the necessary books, 
is a fair estimate. 
The expense is less if he attends an institution where the 
course is included in two winter sessions of six months each 
—as at the American Veterinary College in New York, or 
the Chicago Veterinary College—than he would be if he en¬ 
tered where attendance is required at three winter sessions 
of eight months each, as at the veterinary departments of the 
University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. But 
he would have the satisfaction in the latter case of a more 
thorough training. 
If he sees proper and can afford the expense he can go 
abroad to complete his education. In short, while he can fit 
himself after a fashion for seven or eight hundred dollars, 
twelve to eighteen hundred will fit him more thoroughly, or 
he can even lay out six or seven thousand to advantage. 
A young man in order to be a successful veterinarian 
should have a love for animals and a knack for managing and 
understanding them, together with a taste for medicine. The 
pursuit will enable him to lead a healthy outside life, particu¬ 
larly to be desired if his physical condition or mental charac¬ 
teristics render a sedentary occupation unsuitable. 
Though his income may not be as large as that of a pros¬ 
perous practitioner of human medicine, yet on the other hand 
it will take less time to build up a practice that will render 
him self-supporting. 
