CORRESPONDENCE. 
429 
be general agreement, except, perhaps, on one point, viz : the 
necessity of a longer course of studies. That a two years’ course, 
as given in colleges of this country and Canada, is too short, is not 
to be denied ; even recent graduates of these schools have ac¬ 
knowledged the hard work and strain that is necessary to gain a 
sufficient knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Chemis¬ 
try, Materia Medica, Therapeutics, Surgery, Obstetrics, Theory 
and Practice, etc., etc., into two short terms, to enable him to 
pass an examination that will entitle him to his diploma. With 
all this theoretical part of the business to go through in so short 
a time, what chance has he to get any practical knowledge ? It 
is safe to say that seven-tenths of the graduates leave college as 
theorists of veterinary medicine, without the most simple practical 
ideas that might be expected even from a coachman. His very 
first case is approached with a certain want of confidence; this, 
coupled with his lack of practical capabilities, brings disaster, and 
the result is that before he is given a chance to display his edu¬ 
cational knowledge he is told to get himself to a warmer clime, 
and the practical, or so-called quack, is called in, who, if not as 
acceptable to the patient, is more so to the practically educated 
eye of the owner. If a longer course were demanded, and the 
student obliged to finally pass those portions of the curriculum 
that tend more to the theoretical part of his education, at the end 
of the second term, not being allowed to enter upon his third term 
until he had done so, would perhaps remedy the evil, as it would 
give him more time to apply to the more practical part during 
the last term. Then again, should he not have been obliged to 
produce proof from some known veterinary practioner, that he 
has assisted him in his practice during the interim of the sessions, 
before being allowed to matriculate for the third term ? This 
would, I think, be the means of sending out such graduates as 
would be an honor to their alma mater and a credit to the pro¬ 
fession. 
Now that classical colleges have thought proper to recognize 
the profession, by giving a course of lectures on veterinary sub¬ 
jects, we might expect to have largely multiplied the already too 
prevelant evil. Not only this, but it will intensify it a hundred 
