CORRESPONDENCE. 
405 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE VETERINARY DEPARTMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 
AND ITS CRITICS. 
That the University of Iowa has the right to establish a 
veterinary school cannot be questioned. The Constitution con¬ 
cedes all States the right to educate her citizens in any of the 
sciences in whatever manner they may see fit. Iowa educates 
her citizens in veterinary medicine, presumably for her own use, 
and neither the National Government nor any other outside 
power has the right to dictate in what manner it shall be accom¬ 
plished. In so long as the State is satisfied with the teaching 
done, outsiders can have no influence in securing a change. See¬ 
ing, then, that the recent undertaking of this University is 
entirely legitimate and solely under the control of the people of 
Iowa, the questions which really interest are: Is the teaching 
being done there of such a character as to guarantee the making 
of efficient veterinarians ? and, if not, How can we induce a 
change for the better ? 
It is hardly to be doubted that Iowa could establish a veteri¬ 
nary school the equal of many of the best now in existence— 
a school which would produce veterinarians the equals of any 
of the critics that have recently been decrying this new effort. It 
in no wise appears that such an institution is uncalled for! The 
Western States are greatly in need of thousands of veterinary 
surgeons, and the sooner they are supplied, the quality at the 
same time being superior, the better it will be for the individual 
States and for the country as a whole. The University of Iowa 
might supply this great want; let us review her facilities ! One 
critic claims that Ames (the seat of the University) does not offer 
a proper supply of clinical material to insure efficient teaching ; 
an objection that probably amounts to but little, since Mr. 
Stalker, in his reply to the same critic, asserts that “ hundreds of 
cases are annually presented at the college ” for treatment, etc., 
which cases could undoubtedly be utilized by the teachers and 
