934 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
were made every five days, and the animal recovered. According 
to the observations of the author, this treatment is to be preferred 
to the use of arecoline, pilocarpine, and veratrine on account of 
the rapidity of its action.—( Archiv . Vet . Russ. Jo. de Zootech .) 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE BANQUETS OF THE A. V. M. A. 
Raeeigh, N. C., Jan. n, 1902. 
Editors American Veterinary Review : 
Dear Sirs :—While Dr. W. D. Williams seldom attends the 
banquets of the American Veterinary Medical Association, still, 
in the January Review, page 848, he most unmercifully ex¬ 
coriates those of 11s who have been “ loyal ” enough to attend 
and “ unfortunate ” enough to be placed in the “ embarrassing 
position ” of which he speaks. Truly, Dr. Williams has made 
the position of the speakers at future banquets doubly embar¬ 
rassing. 
Seriously, it is the opinion of the writer that what Dr. 
Williams has said about the speeches at the banquets of our as¬ 
sociation is fully justified. In fact, his criticism might have 
been made much more severe, if that were possible, and still 
have been richly deserved; but the important point of his letter 
is the question of future improvement. His suggestion that the 
banquet speakers be given early notice is by no means new. The 
writer has, on more than one occasion, suggested this to the 
Secretary and others and knows that they approve of it, still the 
“ old peculiar methods ” have been pursued. In some cases, 
even the President of the association has been kept in complete 
ignorance of the toast list and speakers until after it had gone 
to the printer, notwithstanding his repeated request that he be 
allowed to see it as early as possible. In short, the manner in 
which the toast lists have been prepared has, on more than one 
occasion, been more than merely “ suggestive of a deliberate at¬ 
tempt to put an enemy in an embarrassing position.” 
While I do not agree with Dr. Williams that appropriate 
banquet speeches are usually such as a scientific association 
should care to preserve, still, with the memory of past efforts 
fresh in my mind I am indeed amazed at the mildness of the 
characterization, “dry,” from his usually vitriolic pen. 
Both the “ flavor and substance ” of these banquet speeches 
can be much improved, even to the extent that Dr. Williams 
