CORRESPONDENCE. 
497 
docking to be justified because it increases the value of the 
Jwrse.:^ Surely a most remarkable theory ! But this belief 
is natural to him, he is a veterinary materialist, a utilitarian 
who thinks not that the horse is endowed with the same 
organs of life that were given to him ; he regards the horse 
as an automaton, an article of commerce, a commodity ex¬ 
changeable for money. But withal I respect this man for the 
originality of his thought and the straightforwardness of his 
words. Other veterinarians, however, will admit that docking 
is cruel, that it is an ugly fashion, that it is an unlawful opera¬ 
tion. Yet they argue that they must comply to the demand of 
their clients, and thus they operate—behind closed doors. 
Shame to these cowardly heroes who in the slavish subjugation 
to the dollar outrage their manliness and righteousness. It is 
absurd to maintain that we cannot refuse this operation, for I 
know of colleagues that have done so time and again without 
derogatory results to their “business.” Even to persons who 
have only a commercial conception of our profession, the law 
alone grants sufficient cause for refusal, for no man is ex¬ 
pected to perpetrate an unlawful act. 
I will not enter to-day into details of the scientific aspect of 
docking. Whether the operation in itself is cruel or not may be 
decided differently by courts ; the main issue remains that it is 
cruel in its effects. It has also been argued that the skin of the 
horse is supplied with particular muscles to ward off insects. This 
is only partly true, for no veterinary anatomist has as yet detected 
them on the hindquarters, and a docked tail is too short to switch 
over this region. This proposition would rather favor the banged 
tail and should meet the objection of those who consider a long 
tail a “nuisance.”. Others have classified docking with the 
'“ economic ” operations like castration and dehorning, but as its 
■effect is not beneficial but deleterious it cannot be economic. 
Took at it in whatever light you want the fact remains that 
docking is an unnecessary operation, and as it is cruel besides it 
has been made unlawful with perfect propriety. 
From all these reasons I maintain that it is a breach of ethics 
to perform this operation. The statutes of our veterinary asso¬ 
ciations are full of a lot of things that we shall not do—towards 
our fellow practitioners. Yet this is only the teaching of ethi¬ 
cal conduct towards ourselves. But there is also an ethical con¬ 
duct towards our animal patients ; in fact, there exists what may 
be called “ethics of veterinary work.” The ideal aim of veteri¬ 
nary medicine is to restore to health diseased animals, to relieve 
