CENTRAL VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
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for practitioners to invest their money in, for, if properly conducted, it 
could not help paying a very good per centage, especially if members 
of the profession would make it a point to advise their clients to send 
their dead animals to the establishment, which, of course, they would do 
if they wished to make a post mortem , or had shares in it. 
i. There is one other addition which might be added with great benefit, 
and I may say it would not be complete without it, and that is, that a 
paid veterinary post-mortem examiner should be connected with it, whose 
duty would be to communicate the post-mortem changes to any of the 
shareholders who particularly asked him to do so ; and in this way prac¬ 
titioners who were unfortunate enough to live a great distance from the 
establishment would be able to have the autopsy made for them, and 
also to take notes of any extraordinary pathological or other changes 
which attracted his attention in the animals brought during the daily 
routine of business. 
These, gentlemen, are most of the advantages which at present strike 
me that might acrue from such an establishment. 
We will now look on the other side of the question, and see what 
disadvantages such an institution might present. 
Thus, some may think that our connection with such an establish¬ 
ment would be degrading to our profession, and lower us in public esti¬ 
mation. If I thought this for one moment I would give up all idea or 
hope of our having anything to do with such a scheme, but when I 
look on the matter in its proper light all such drawbacks vanish, and 
I think it would be the same with the public at large, or, at any rate, 
with unprejudiced thinking men, who, in my humble opinion, would 
neither think it degrading nor useless to the profession, but would, on 
the contrary, praise and give us credit for the steps we had taken to 
advance pathological research, &c., in veterinary science. Again, some 
might say, as it was suggested to me, that it looks rather like a “ doctor 
settingup as an undertaker and, I must confess, when viewed super¬ 
ficially, it does; but when we consider what inadequate means there are 
for veterinary surgeons and students to obtain conveniences for veteri¬ 
nary research, and that such bad regulations are in existence for the 
destruction of animals affected with contagious diseases, I think most 
people would forgive us, and look at it in the same light that we do. 
We might even be accused of killing animals for the purpose of ob¬ 
taining the carcase for its pathological value, and so forth; but here, 
again, I must say this is only a supposition, and requires to be authen¬ 
ticated before we ought to entertain such ideas, and, if we found such 
to be the case, I have not the slightest doubt we could face and correct 
the difficulty with just as much efficacy as those who promulgated such 
accusations against us, although I am fully aware that such false 
statements are often very difficult to rectify. 
Lastly, some of the local practitioners might say that they would be 
put to a great deal of inconvenience by their local horse-slaughterers 
refusing them the use of their yards, especially if the knacker happened 
to find out that the veterinary surgeon was a shareholder; but this, I 
think, is a very paltry excuse for withholding such a useful establish¬ 
ment, for there can be little doubt that such petty enmity would soon 
be overcome by time and custom. 
Now, gentlemen, I have given the reasons for and against the esta¬ 
blishment of such an institution or company, and my reasons for bringing 
this matter before you ; therefore I hope you will give free ventilation 
to your opinions. Of course, those who care little about making post¬ 
mortem examinations, pathological research, and providing means for 
