684 
EDITORIAL. 
The Journal for November deplores the fact that in recent 
years too much of the time of the meetings have been given up 
to social pleasures, and that night sessions have not been the 
rule. We can scarcely understand how our contemporary can 
draw such conclusions from the facts, since the recent meetings 
have, in our judgment, been models of distributed profit and 
pleasure. At the late New York meeting the Committee of 
Arrangements asked only for the last afternoon of the session, 
and did not even take the members from the hall until one 
o’clock. The impression that many hours were nassed outside 
of the hall probably arises from the recent innovations of surgi¬ 
cal clinics and pathological exhibits, which have decreased the 
number of hours devoted to the reading of papers so perceptibly 
as to greatly embarrass that portion of the programme. It is 
without question a serious mistake to curtail the time allotted to 
this branch of the programme to the extent that it reached at the 
last meeting, for the papers were of a high order, and if sufficient 
time had been given for their proper discussion, a valuable addi¬ 
tion to the literature of our profession would have been secured. 
It is disappointing, embarrassing, and disheartening for an essay¬ 
ist to devote hours of careful study and research to a subject, 
to travel many miles, taking time from a practice which can illy 
spare him, to read his thesis, hoping thereby to contribute his 
quota and to receive in return the judgment of his fellow vet¬ 
erinarians from all parts of the country, and then to find that 
the time of the convention has been so occupied with other 
events that his number cannot be reached, and must be read by 
title only and referred to the Publication Committee ; or if he 
is so well up on the programme that he is called upon to read 
his paper, he is told that only twenty minutes can be spared for 
its reading, and when he has cut it beyond recognition in order 
to save the time limit, discussion is postponed that some other 
gentleman may have an opportunity to present a subject of 
great importance. Many such instances occurred at the New 
York meeting. One in particular impressed us. Prof. Schwarz¬ 
kopf had been to great trouble and some expense to collect sta- 
