COKRESPONDE-NCE. 
289 
diploma , simply because I would not buy one and was too poor 
to go to Europe to study; so, having a natural love for the pro¬ 
fession and an ardent desire to become proficient, I was compelled 
to study when and where I could, buying and reading the latest 
productions to the veterinary art. Still I am not satisfied , know¬ 
ing that the base is not properly constructed, or in other words, 
feeling the want of a collegiate course. 
I entered the cavalry service in 1858, before the “bloody 
fleam ” went out of use ; and I look back at my practice in those 
days with horror and regret, and have often wished that a repu¬ 
table college might be founded in our own country and that 1 
might have the means, someday, of entering its doors as a student. 
Your article has hung out the latch-string, and it now only remains 
for the matter to be properly brought to the notice of Gen. Meigs, 
whose sound judgment will at once be, that it would be to the 
best interest of the service and the country at large to have the 
army veterinarians thoroughly educated and qualified for their 
positions, and to grant such of us as desire it a leave of absence 
for the purpose of entering the American Veterinary College, 
with a guarantee on our part to serve the Government at least 
four years after graduating. 
1 send you herewith a copy of the Old Supply Table of Horse 
Medicines, to be placed in juxtaposition with the new one sent 
you by Dr. Vollum, so that you may see what we had to select 
from to cure “ all the ills that [horse] flesh is heir to.” Dr. Vol¬ 
lum, as one of the Board (and I think the one) who made the new 
Supply Table, deserves the thanks of all veterinary surgeons of 
the army. 1 know he has mine. (The only omission the Board 
made is a mortar and pestle.) 
Truly yours, 
“ A Vet.” 
