EDITORIAL. 
701 
From this, says the author, it will be seen that scour con¬ 
nected with omphalitis was recognized in 1838. 
This is very well. From this it is quite certain that Prof. 
Nocard may not have been the first to attribute “ white scours ” 
to the diseased condition of the umbilical cord ; but, neverthe¬ 
less, it is he who has found the true cause of the disease, its 
correct mode of entrance into the organism, that has established 
the fact of the relationship existing between the manifestations 
of the digestive apparatus and those of the respiratory. And, 
finally, it is also to his investigations and his suggestions that 
the successful treatment, curative and prophylactic of the two 
forms of disease, is due. A. L. 
A NEED—AN OPPORTUNITY. 
The fact that the great State of New York, with its vast 
live-stock interests, with a record of leadership in all progres¬ 
sive movements looking to the preservation and betterment of 
the health and wealth of its people, is the most notable exam¬ 
ple of a State without an adequate veterinary staff to guard its 
herds and flocks against the dangers from contagious diseases, 
has for some time been a matter of concern and discussion 
among those who appreciate the great good that such organiza¬ 
tions accomplish in other commonwealths and in other coun¬ 
tries. First among the States of the Union to enact a law to 
protect legitimate practitioners, first also to place the standard 
of veterinary education on a plane so high that no other State 
has dared to follow its example, it is indeed a subject of won¬ 
derment that she has not felt it her duty to utilize the members 
of that profession to the great financial advantage of her im¬ 
mense investments in horses, cattle, sheep, and swine. But a 
small number of the great stock-raising States of this country 
are in a similar backward condition, and every few months we 
are called upon to record a step of material advancement in this 
line in some of them. But the Empire State pursues the even 
tenor of her way, without a thought for the welfare of this great 
source of wealth, and if there is an outbreak of a disease which 
