INTRA-OCULAR FILARIASIS. 
429 
the use of technical terms, as to the meaning of which he may 
be altogether “ at sea,” which is of daily occurrence, we would 
certainly recommend the more classic expression. As we have 
already stated, the patient, tendering hospitality to this rather 
irritating guest, was a horse. Possibly that was a misfortune, 
for the horse. Had he been a man, he would, of course, at 
once have sought a specialist, an oculist, who would, after suc¬ 
cessfully extracting the nematode, have presented a bill much 
longer, no doubt, than the parasite, and the operation have 
been considered something wonderful. Probably heralded all 
over the country as a most wonderful feat in ocular surgery. 
“ Just to think of it, a living worm taken from the eye of a 
man, and yet the patient expected to live.” Now it is different 
with the veterinarian. He rarely or never gets the credit for a 
delicate operation on the lower animal that the human surgeon 
does for similar work, although just as deftly performed. And 
why ? Because the one is dealing with human life; the other, 
with that of one of the lower species, which is too often viewed, 
only, in the light of dollars and cents. The difference lies, 
then, not so much in the quality of the work as in the patient. 
A man may have one of his limbs amputated, and if it saves his 
life, the operation is a success. Not so in the case of the lower 
animals. Any operation, be it ever so skilfully performed, if it 
renders the patient unfit for work, it is a failure. We made the 
statement, that if this horse had been a man, he would have 
sought a specialist. Now the veterinarian has not, as a rule, 
the opportunity for specializing. The public expect him to be 
familiar with all branches of comparative medicine and surgery, 
so that if he can be called a specialist at all, he is an all-round 
specialist. He is forced to keep abreast of his professional work 
so that he can fill the office of the oculist, the aurist, the rhino- 
logist, the dentist, the dermatologist, the gynecologist, the 
helminthologist, and all the other specialists in surgery and 
medicine. In operating for intra-ocular filariasis, he would 
then, of course, be doing the work of the oculist. 
The patient brought to the veterinary department of the 
