668 
S. STEWART. 
ideals of professional practice, it is largely due to lack of convic¬ 
tion and perhaps perception of the best ideals and best practical 
ethical procedure, due to lack of a common understanding among 
the several veterinarians in a community as to what rules should 
guide them in their relations to each other and to the public. 
It is only by association that wholesome professional practice 
is established and maintained. 
The well-qualified veterinarians most .keenly appreciate the 
losses and disappointments suffered by the.public through confi- 
dence placed in the claims of untrained, uneducated, designing 
persons who advertise to be skilled veterinarians and are entrusted 
with the medical care of the favorite horse, the much-needed 
cow, or the highly-prized dog. They exact large fees for value¬ 
less service and lead the uninformed to underestimate the merits 
and worth of the competent practitioner. Laws restraining the 
incompetent practitioner and the fraudulent pretender should be 
•enacted for the protection alike of the public and the profession. 
Such legislation cannot be secured until the subject is agitated 
by those most interested, and suitable bills framed and their 
passage secured through the intelligent, well-directed efforts of 
veterinarians who have studied the problem and best compre¬ 
hend the. provisions of law which will accomplish the end 
sought. ^ It is only by association that veterinarians can reach a 
mutual understanding and secure concerted action for the pro¬ 
curement of legislation regulating veterinary practice, or pro¬ 
mote the cause of veterinary sanitary regulations in municipali¬ 
ties and States. 
It is an old truism, handed down from past ages, that it is not 
meet that man should be alone. While this truism expresses a 
factor inherent in man as a social being, it is also true relative 
to his vocation, especially if it be a profession. He is indebted 
to the past for that accumulated stock of knowledge wrought 
out of experience and patient observation, to which he has had 
access and upon which he has so largely and freely drawn, and 
in return for which he is under moral obligation to add what he 
may to this general fund of knowledge for the use of coming 
