948 
CORRESPOND ENCE. 
sachusetts General Hospital, where he died 43 years later ; he 
graduated in 1858 with the degree of M. D. 
Dr. Stickney then went as surgeon on one of Train’s vessels, 
sailing to England. On his arrival in that country he entered 
the Royal Veterinary College at London, from which he grad¬ 
uated with high honors in 1859. When he returned in i860 a 
severe cattle plague of pleuro-pneumonia was raging in Massa¬ 
chusetts, and Gov. Banks appointed him to the State Board of 
Health, and he did much to eradicate the plague in four years. 
Dr. Stickney then went into practice as a veterinary surgeon 
with great success, and was employed actively in his profession 
up to within a short time of his death. 
Dr. Stickney was married in Waltham, Oct. 8, 1861, to 
Elizabeth Shannon, daughter of Jonas C. March, of Boston. 
His widow and four children—Mary, wife of Henry Swinscoe 
of Philadelphia, Ellen F. Stickney, Josiah Stickney of Clinton, 
and I. Lombard Stickney of Jamaica Plain—survive him. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
AN AMBIGUOUS CRITICISM. 
Ithaca, N. Y., February 18, 1901. 
Editors American Veterinary Review : 
Dear Sirs :—There appears in the Review for January, 
1901 (p. 745), under the caption of u Veterinary Topics of To¬ 
day,” by the head of the “ Department of Therapeutics ” of the 
Journal of Comparative Medicine some remarks in relation to 
the recent booklet, u A Course in Surgical Operations,” the in¬ 
tent or motive of which is not clear. 
Dr. Martin says: “ While many of the operations recom¬ 
mended in this work are a decided innovation in American 
veterinary surgery, the value of several from a practical point 
of view may be questioned.” The book recommends none of 
the operations described at all; it does not advise median neu¬ 
rectomy for ringbone or heaves ; it merely describes one (not 
the only) method of operating in advisable cases. Nor can we 
see the use of the criticism “ from a practical point of view ” 
when he does not point out whieh of the operations are dan¬ 
gerous innovations, nor why they are dangerous. 
Proceeding, he says : u There is a vast amount of difference 
in point of utility and also from a financial standpoint in per¬ 
forming an experimental operation upon a worthless animal in 
