REPORT OF ANNUAL MEETING. 
413 
and if the Veterinary Surgeon "be sent for, the case is hut too 
often at that time beyond all chance of recovery, it having 
been so long tampered with by the empiric. If, under these 
circumstances, the Veterinary Surgeon prescribes, he is sure to 
get blame, for should the patient recover, the empiric will 
spread about that his treatment, and not that of the Veterinary 
Surgeon, effected the cure ; or if, on the contrary, the patient 
dies, which probably in nine cases out of ten he will, the empiric 
will then say “the Veterinary Surgeon had killed him; and 
that had the animal remained under his care he would have 
recovered.” In support of this assertion, the empiric has 
twenty cases to quote, which he has cured, and which, in his 
opinion, were worse than this one. But even graduated 
members located in large towns are not free from this annoy¬ 
ance, for almost every shoeing smith has—if not Veterinary 
Surgeon, at least Veterinary forge written on his sign-board— 
lie thus professing to undertake to shoe and doctor horses, 
and dispense horse and cattle medicines. For the same reason, 
a boot and shoe maker might be considered competent to 
medically treat his customers—than which nothing can be 
more ridiculous. 
Fourthty. It may be asked whether epizootic maladies 
would have prevailed to the extent they unfortunately have, 
had the Veterinary profession been on a better footing, and 
more numerous ? It may be safely asserted that wherever 
Veterinary Surgeons have attended, they have always devised 
means of preventing the extension and the fatality of epizootics, 
by recommending sequestration, quarantine , &c., while the 
unscientific practitioner is far too slow in diagnosing the 
malady, and is ever ready with his means of curing it. 
Another important question is the cruelty from which un¬ 
scientific practice can hardly ever be considered free. The 
Act for Prevention of Cruelty justly punishes for ill-using 
domestic animals, but the Veterinary empiric may bleed them 
to death, nauseate them with the most filthy nostrums, and 
perform the most barbarous and useless operations with 
impunity. The very names by which lie recognises diseases 
are a proof of ignorance, as for instance, the braxy, the 
gid, black quarter, quarter evil, and stricken. Even murrain, 
which with him is a general designation for all maladies of an 
infectious type, is of ambiguous meaning, being simply derived 
from the Latin mori, to die. 
Fifthly. Almost every country possesses laws which are more 
or less stringent against Veterinary empiricism. In Prance it 
is illegal for any one not having obtained a diploma to assume 
the name of Veterinary Surgeon; the penalties are heavy—• 
damages and interest to the aggrieved parties. In Belgium, 
where Veterinary Schools are little more than a quarter of a 
century old, a law—passed in 1850—prohibits any one from 
practising the Veterinary art who has not a diploma. In 
