WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE. 
489 
through his college courses he has learned all that there is in 
his profession, for he is then only prepared to grasp the ideas, 
and profit by them, that come before him in his daily prac¬ 
tice, and the history of the lives of our great men may be 
summed up in the axiom that the more knowledge the man 
obtains, the broader the field to harvest from. Now I want 
to ask, is it right that the young man who has worked hard 
to accumulate scanty means to procure a proper education, 
has entered a recognized college, studied hard, deprived him¬ 
self of many of the luxuries of life, has left his home and 
friends and given himself up to the surroundings of college 
life as they may be, good or bad, and has succeeded in pass¬ 
ing a rigid examination, both written and oral, on all subjects 
pertaining to his profession, that he shall be looked upon as 
one who dwells only with the lower classes of humanity ? Is 
there a comparison between such a man, who intends to de¬ 
vote his whole life to alleviating the sufferings of the lower 
animals, and one who thinks his mind so great and broad that 
all he needs to succeed in life is the title which he gives to 
himself and the unmitigated gall that is quite prevalent 
among the existing practory of the present day ? 
You will excuse me, if you please, if I repeat the old 
adage, that if anything is worth doing at all it is worth doing 
well, and I think that it will apply very appropriately to the 
veterinary profession. So few people are aware of the 
knowledge required of a man who can intelligently treat the 
diseases of the dumb animals of this existing creation that it 
is a wonder that we have succeeded in securing the title we 
have. But I am glad to say that the eyes of the common 
public are becoming opened, and that, when our exertions 
have been combined and in the right direction, the legislators 
of some.of the many States of this united republic have given 
us greater encouragement to go on with our work by enact¬ 
ing laws to protect us. 
We have literature that compares very favorably with 
the best medical works of to-day, in fact it is one and the same 
in many instances. Our anatomies are simply comparative, 
and I may say the same of our materia medicas and dispensa- 
