SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
529 
sional men (who are without elementary qualifications) to these 
offices of honor and serious responsibility, because these positions 
belong to veterinary science by virtue of the profession. 
It is due the producer and consumer to be thus informed 
and to come in possession of the facts, because information 
must precede agitation and agitation is the precursor of execu¬ 
tion. Public justice demands that the State agricultural ex¬ 
perimental station, the State board of health and the State live 
stock commission be represented by a veterinarian, a carefully 
trained specialist in the things relative to his office. Then the 
State might feel confident, because protected both against alarm¬ 
ing reports utterly without foundation and also against the woful 
neglect of precautions so necessary to be exercised. With the 
present appointments and conditions it is humiliating for the 
men of our profession to be compelled by law to report all cases 
of contagious and infectious diseases which come under his ob¬ 
servation, to the State board of live stock commission, only to 
have his verdict scrutinized and confirmed or rejected by one 
who is not conversant with said diseases, nor their symptoms. 
Surely this is a gross injustice to both the public and the pro¬ 
fession. Diseases which affect both man and beast should be 
investigated by both the medical and veterinary professions. 
As testimony, let me cite to you a case which forcibly proves 
the foregoing. It is found in the Condon Veterinary Journal. 
Scarlet fever became epidemic in Jaaptown, a district of Glas¬ 
gow ; according to the investigation of a physician it was 
directly traceable to an eruption of the teats of the dairy cows. 
This verdict was accepted without question by the health offi¬ 
cers. In the meantime, Prof. McCall, V. S., also made an in¬ 
vestigation with this result, viz. : that the eruptions of the teats 
of the herd was an affection which existed 24 days before scar¬ 
latina developed among any of the consumers. During all this 
time the customers remained free from the disease, the men 
employed at the dairy who milked and drank the milk from 
these cows also remained free from scarlet fever and the dairy 
man’s wife and infant, though inoculated with the virus from 
the eruptions and using the milk every day, were not affected 
bv the disease. Scarlatina had been prevalent in Neilst.011 Dis¬ 
trict and carried to Jaaptown District. Prof. McCall found no 
disease like scarlatina affecting the cows and had he been asso¬ 
ciated with the medical investigator all the unfounded alarm 
and serious loss to the dairyman would have been avoided. 
Stockmen, butchers and dairymen represent great interests 
