VETERINARY EDUCATION. 
595 
struggle for life. He has come out of his alma mater a V.S., 
a D.V.S., a D.V.M.S., M.C.D., M.D.V., M.V.D., V.M.D. or 
a D.C.M.; why not a D.C.M.D.A., Doctor of Comparative 
Medicine of Domestic Animals ? And when a short time later 
he goes and puts his shingle up, if he meets a colleague who 
has a title different from his, he does not know if he ought to 
ignore him or to recognize him as a friend, as a brother of the 
family of veterinarians. 
Does it not seem to you, gentlemen, that there is need 
for imperative reform, and that the day has come when uni¬ 
formity in the end ought to go with uniformity in the beginning, 
and that if the noble efforts made by all of us, either as practi¬ 
tioners in active life, or as teachers, professors and lecturers, 
is to be counted to his whole value, it would become us from 
this day to submit all our students to a uniform examination 
arid grant them a uniform title—a name for one and all? 
Let us again go back to Europe and see what is done there* 
and what degree the new graduate receives. 
The examinations in the schools of the continent, in France 
and in Italy, I know are made before a board of examiners, the 
same in England. The title is uniform for one and all in the 
entire country; if in France, it is the Medecin Veterinaire; 
it is the Thierarzt of Germany; it is the M.R.C.V.$. of 
England. 
Why not adopt the same in this country, why not have a 
national board of examiners with a national name and doing 
a national work ? 
There is, besides the advantages that such a reform would 
bring, another point which is of no less importance. How 
does the American veterinarian stand in other countries ? Is 
he allowed to practice, and to assume the title that he has re¬ 
ceived from his alma mater—It is sad to say; but the negative 
answer to that question stands as a shame to our American 
degrees and a reproach to our American institutions. 
Where is the remedy ? In the creation of a national board 
of examiners, whom we have ho doubt could obtain in their 
powers an obligation that no one should be allowed to practice 
veterinary medicine in the United States unless he was pos- 
