50 
EDITORIAL. 
State officials and societies, and veterinary journals were issued ; 
weeklies, monthlies and quarterlies have for the last ten years 
keen published, some of which have had a successful career, 
while others have been obliged to stop for various reasons. 
Who, twenty years ago, would have thought of the great 
change in the profession—in its elevation in public estimation, 
which, from the low grade of the vulgar and ignorant cow leech, 
has raised the veterinarians to the position of gentlemen of edu¬ 
cation, worthy of public respect, of State position, of General 
Governmental trust ? 
In going back to the start, it cannot lie ignored that by the 
personal and private efforts of a few the first impulse was given ; 
and if these great changes, which we have just considered, have 
been obtained and can be traced back to those private individu¬ 
als, what would have been the results if assistance had been given 
by Governmental support, as it is in Europe ? 
We have had appropriations of all kinds, for many purposes, 
with some good results, but what has the veterinary profession 
gained thereby ? A great deal of the money that has been spent 
would have been better employed had it been secured for the 
assistance of some of the institutions already mentioned, or better 
still, for the establishment of a national veterinary school, where 
the graduates of the various State institutions could have received 
a post graduate education, that limited means have not permitted 
these private undertakings to give. 
Much has already been said and written about a national vet¬ 
erinary institute; but is the subject not worthy of attention, and 
would it not be wise for the members of the profession to try to 
obtain some action in that direction ? Has not the time come 
when the different colleges in the Union could work together and 
establish, if not a post graduate school of veterinary medicine, at 
least a national board of examiners, who would render the exami¬ 
nation equal for all candidates ? 
This is another step of progress to be made, and one which 
we had hoped would have been realized much earlier than those 
which have been made in the last quarter of a century. 
