378 
KUSH SHIPPEN HUIDEKOPER. 
responsibility which it places upon me. At the founding of the 
Medical Department the country was new, any advance given to 
the people for their education was a boon, which they welcomed 
no matter how small it was. The physician and surgeon were so 
needed, that they rose rapidly to a position which was socially 
better than it had been in the mother-country ; every addition to 
the ranks of medicine was regarded as a public benefaction, for 
life is always man’s greatest care. 
in founding a veterinary school we have much to labor 
against. While a few people fortunately look upon the philan¬ 
thropic side of veterinary medicine, the majority only employ a 
veterinary surgeon as a means of saving or of utilizing so many 
dollars and cents in the form of a domestic animal. Popular 
prejudice has classed the “horse doctor” and the “cow leech” 
with the most ignorant farrier, and has tainted him with the repu¬ 
tation for dishonesty of the proverbial horse dealer; medical men 
have classed him the least educated empiric of their own cast, 
and, with the exception of a few individuals, no one has thought 
for a moment that the responsibility of the average ignorance 
was upon himself and his government. Happily there are always 
men enterprising beyond their fc-llows, and throughout the country 
are many practitioners wdio have had the diligence to labor and 
the intelligence to appreciate what their experience has shown 
them ; the want of journals and the small demand for and high 
price of veterinary books, except of the “Universal Stock Book 
and Veterinary Compendium” order, has prevented these men 
from being known outside their own locality. Medical publishers 
hesitate to print the work of a veterinary surgeon unless it is of 
exceptionable merit, and books of technical worth are only bought 
by the few physicians whose personal tastes interest them in 
animals, as a pastime or for laboratory research; books which are 
within the scope of the layman’s understanding are of little accu¬ 
racy and value, and are apt to condemn the author in the eyes of 
the scientific man. 
Iu establishing an institution for the advancement of veter¬ 
inary knowledge, and in asking intelligent and reputable men to 
select it for a profession whereby they may gain a reputation and 
