294 
A. A. HOLCOMBE. 
In 1876 (General Order No. 31, dated April 12,) the supply 
table, with its various revisions and the orders pertaining thereto, 
issued subsequent to its first publication in 1864, was published 
“ for the information and guidance of all concerned.” 
The next order pertaining to the Veterinary Department was 
published May 31, 1877 (General Order No. 52). Its contents 
were as follows : “ By direction of the Secretary of War, General 
Order No. 259 of August 1, 1863, from the War Department, is 
revoked and the following substituted: Veterinary surgeons of 
cavalry regiments authorized by Section 1102, Revised Statutes, 
amended by the Act of February 27, 1877, will be appointed by 
the Secretary of War upon the nomination of the regimental 
Board of Officers, to consist of the three officers present next in 
rank to the commander of the regiment. 
“The nominations of candidates so recommended, accom¬ 
panied by the report of the Board in each case, will be trans¬ 
mitted by the regimental commander to the Adjutant General of 
the Army.” 
It will be observed that in no instance has any reference been 
made to the necessary qualifications of the candidate for army 
veterinary honors. 
Under the order last quoted above, anyone might present him¬ 
self to the Board for examination. There were no regulations 
for determining the extent and scope of the examinations, nor 
was the Board required to report to the Secretary of War the 
nature of their investigations into the candidate’s knowledge of 
veterinary surgery or other subjects. Unfortunately, as it seems 
to me, the order of May 31st, 1877, as well as Order 259 of 1863, 
was so constructed as to exclude from the Board of Examiners, 
probably in the majority of instances, the very officers fully 
qualified to determine the applicant’s knowledge of at least the 
general principles of surgery. I refer to the surgeons. Con¬ 
sidering then that the Examining Boards were generally com¬ 
posed of officers who, unless in exceptional instances, had little or 
no knowledge of veterinary surgery beyond the simpler manipu¬ 
lations, it is not a matter for surprise that the qualifications of the 
individuals employed by the government in the capacity of Veter- 
