CORRESPONDENCE. 
353 
veterinarians as judges. 
Littleton, Iowa, July 7, 1898. 
Editors A^nerican Veterinary Review: 
'Dear Sirs :—The advancement that colleges are making, 
both in research and education, calls for more positive decisions, 
both from a theoretical and practical standpoint, from the com¬ 
ing graduate. I have chosen a very interesting and valuable 
subject, though I feel that I am unfit to eliminate any new 
ideas, but I have been tempted from others as well as from ob¬ 
servations, to call attention to the lack of growth in the veteri¬ 
nary piofession of thorough and competent judges. We occa¬ 
sionally witness men in the profession giving their opinions as 
to the soundness of horses, when in reality the animals are no 
more fit to stand an examination for such than a Scotch terrier 
is fit for a fox chase. It is a great pity that colleges and other 
institutions don’t give this matter more thought and attention, 
and try to impress on their students more knowledge of how to 
examine, and go about it in a professional and systematic man¬ 
ner, thus overcoming the many obstacles and embarrassments 
that they are prone to in daily practice, by the laity or “ quack ” 
who has pointed out some defect or abnormality that the veteri¬ 
narian has failed to find, and has thus gained more confidence 
and imparted it to the owner, to think that veterinarians are not 
fit subjects for judges. I may say, though I am not authentic, 
that there are few graduates who can be relied on to give a 
thorough and sound opinion as to conformation and soundness 
of limb and wind of a horse. 
Why is it we see so often in the show ring and other places, 
men who are supposed to be horsemen, if I may be allowed to 
use the term, acting in the capacity of expert judges, and if 
these same gentlemen were asked the question as to the ana¬ 
tomical parts they were examining they no doubt would feel as 
if they desired some oxygen for relief? Are these gentlemen 
fit to give a correct authentic opinion as to conformation, sound¬ 
ness, predisposition and transmission, when ignorant of the 
parts they are examining? Then what is the veterinary pro¬ 
fession coming to ? I may say a good deal of this humbuggery 
and matter-of-form business is due to the present veterinarian 
lacking in his early training before going to college, and during 
his stay within the walls of the latter. As long as there are so 
many avenues or loop-holes for infection, so to speak, in the 
training of the present student, so long will the quack and the 
laity be called in to give their opinions, both in the show ring 
