EDITORIAL. 
493 
Dangers of Hasty Official Appointments—Lessons De¬ 
rived from them. —The presence of contagious diseases amongst 
>ur domestic animals, and principally, perhaps, that of conta¬ 
gious pleuro-pneumonia, from which our export cattle trade has 
nore or less suffered, has undoubtedly been one of the most ob- 
•/ 
r ious means of demonstrating the importance of the veterinary 
u’ofession to the public as a calling, and necessarily of forcing 
ipon the attention of the public an acknowledgment of the value 
>f the acquirements of the properly equipped veterinarian. Tlie 
>opular need and demand for the services of men competent and 
ried has of course correspondingly increased. This state of 
hings has naturally given a direction to the thoughts of young 
nen looking for an eligible opening to a professional life, and has 
>erhaps determined the choice of not a few of those whose final 
election has been the veterinary profession. 
Many of the States, having been compelled to confront the 
luty of providing safeguards for their rapidly increasing stock 
nterests, have also been compelled to look for the men, properly 
ecomplished, to whom to intrust the important duty of detect- 
ng and combatting the evils which have become so general and 
o burdensome. It was not enough to enact good laws and to 
levise wise sanitary measures for the protection of their live 
tock; they must also look for veterinarians from whose ranks to 
ppoint the official agents to whom to entrust the responsibility 
bf carrying out the objects of the laws which they have made. 
The demand for such professional men became suddenly so 
;reat, and the numbers at their disposal comparatively so small, 
hat the proper selection of good men has been at times difficult, 
nd the inevitable result, than which none other could be reason¬ 
ably anticipated, has since been fully demonstrated. The defi- 
iencies in the acquirements, the experience and the skill of a 
'ortion of the official veterinarians in some of the Western States 
as become to-day a source of trouble and mortification, and their 
einoval for cause seems to be urgently demanded now. The 
romptness with which their removal should follow the discovery 
f their incapacity should at least bear some proportion to the 
aste and inconsideration attending their original appointment. 
