VETERINARY SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 17 
raised to 100 dollars; but even the military authorities did 
not seem aware of the exact position of these officers, the 
Aimy Register classing them among enlisted men, whereas, 
they were appointed by the Secretary of War, and considered 
only civilians. Empirics abounded in the service until the 
1879 warrants, hence we cannot wonder that in 1869 a simple 
farmer was appointed by the General Government as Clinical 
Lecturer on Horseshoeing to the Army Veterinary Surgeons 
and Farriers. The United States Veterinary Medical Asso¬ 
ciation enteied a piotest against this. Under the new war¬ 
rant it is one of the duties of veterinary surgeons to instruct 
the farriers and men. Also veterinary surgeons and farriers 
are to be encouraged to make and preserve specimens, and 
each veterinary officer is to furnish a monthly report, his 
patients being of three kinds, mules, horses, and oxen. We 
observe a tendency still to group army veterinary surgeons 
with farriers. Let us hope the influx of educated prac¬ 
titioners will lessen this. We understand that those un¬ 
qualified army practitioners at present holding appointments 
are to be allowed facilities for the regular course of study 
necessary for graduation. Recently the obsolete and imperfect 
list of veterinary means and appliances allowed in the army 
has been very satisfactorily modified. Among the instru¬ 
ments and appliances we specially note the urinometer, 
thermometer, trephine, and hypodermic syringe. This at 
any rate sounds well. One omission has been pointed out—a 
pestle and mortar ! The books allowed are not of a very high 
scientific stamp, though good in their way; they are ‘ Law’s 
Veterinary Adviser ’ and ‘ Parrish’s Pharmacy.’ There is 
considerable room for improvement still in theposition of the 
army practitioner, but he is now no longer in the rank and file. 
There is much work in prospect for veterinary surgeons in 
America. Though we are informed by Professor Smith’s com¬ 
munications to the Veterinary Journal that disease is not 
very prevalent in Ontario, we are always hearing of new 
and obscure diseases of cattle in the vast territory of the 
United States. Hogs are carried off in large numbers by 
the disease known variously as cholera, pneumo-enteritis con¬ 
tagiosa, and typhoid fever. The prevalence of Trichina 
threatens to interfere with the export trade in dead pork. 
Anthrax, tuberculosis,and parasitic disorders are so formidable 
and on such a large scale that each may be considered a 
national calamity. Let those who are promoting veterinary 
science across the Atlantic think when they find their task a 
difficult one—- 
Forsan et hcec olim meminisse iuvahit. 
LIII, 
2 
