718 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
Veterinary Medical Association regarding the next meeting 
place of the U. S. V. M. A., which deserves more than a pass¬ 
ing notice. 
The first “ Whereas ” defines, for the purposes of the parties 
interested, what they mean by “ ont West ” ; that is, Buffalo 
and Nashville are 350 miles or over from the Atlantic seaboard 
and only 3000 miles from the Pacific coast. 
So far as we can tell, this association makes the line be¬ 
tween the “West” and “East” the crest of the Alleghany 
mountains, which are continued northward by the Catskills and 
Adirondacks, leaving the writer still “out West,” after having 
recently moved 2500 miles eastward. 
The second “ Whereas ” avers that the veterinary profession 
in the East has been neglected through the holding of too many 
meetings in the “ West.” In this connection it should be re¬ 
called that the gentleman whose earmarks the resolutions bear, 
controlled the location of the meetings at Des Moines, Buffalo 
and Nashville. 
The “ Resolution ” in chief is founded upon rather peculiar 
geographical ideas, when it favors the holding of the next meet¬ 
ing at Boston instead of “ a long distance from the centre of 
.membership.” We have heard that Boston was “the hub of 
the universe,” but had not supposed it was in the centre of the 
membership of the U. S. V. M. A. A casual study of the map 
would give one the idea that to the northeast, east and south of 
Boston the country is rather wet for veterinary practice, and 
that a line drawn through Boston from northeast to southwest 
would not leave very many members of the association on the 
easterly side of it. A careful study would probably reveal that 
the centre of our membership is west of Boston, and, if it be not 
so, it should be, as the centre of the veterinary population is 
probably nearly as far west as a line passing north and south 
through Chicago, and if the centre of our membership does not 
approximately correspond to the centre of veterinary popula¬ 
tion, then the association is at fault and should correct it. 
There is a danger that, in case the meeting goes to Boston, 
the discrepancy between the centre of veterinary population and 
our membership may recede yet farther eastward. There is not 
universal confidence in the West that its membership is justly 
treated in the society. In the thirty-four years of its history, 
one member west of the Alleghanies has presided for one year, 
and the writer has heard murmurings from Western members 
that they should be so rarely honored. 
