THE VETERINARY PROFESSION AND ITS FUTURE. 729 
with pride upon the successful career of their graduates, some 
of whom are employed as teachers of veterinary science, a large 
number holding important government positions, and nearly 
all enjoying lucrative practices. It is to the success of its 
graduates that the success of the college is due, and I am con¬ 
strained to say to you that the reputation that it is to have in 
the future will depend on the fidelity with which each one of 
you shall perform the duties of the positions you will occupy. 
You, young men, in choosing the profession of medicine, 
have entered upon a field of study of wider scope, of more in¬ 
tense interest, and capable of yielding fruits of greater benefit 
both to yourselves and to your race, let alone the poor suffering 
dumb brute, than any other known to us. Regarding the extent 
of the field of study you have entered upon, it may truthfully 
be said that it extends to and includes some part of every 
science known to man. For while man himself stands as the 
central figure in" this vast field, his anatomy and physiology 
finds analogies and illustrations in every class, order or species 
of animal. 
The present era in medicine, by which I mean the last half 
of the nineteenth century, is preeminently one of brilliant dis¬ 
coveries and inventions, of rapid and extreme fluctuations in 
opinions and practice. These characteristics are the natural 
results of the transition from centuries of purely theoretical 
groping in darkness, to the rapid unfolding of actual knowledge 
concerning the composition anc? properties of the material world 
we inhabit, in the progress of modern chemistry and physics, in 
actual knowledge of the structure and function of various parts 
of the body, and the influence of exterior agents upon them. 
The germ theory of disease is a modern innovation, and a most 
important one, especially in preventive medicine. The present 
status of medicine has an actual scientific basis for each of its 
branches, accompanied by all the instruments and methods 
necessary for further reliable investigations, and the great neces¬ 
sity now is, not new instruments, new remedies or new special¬ 
ties, but the patient application of our ample methods of inves- 
