290 
EDITORIAL. 
admit that the spending of several thousand dollars would be advan¬ 
tageous as far as the knowledge of these diseases goes, would not the 
Agricultural Department find itself, probably from the start, in great diffi¬ 
culty, if not impossibility, in carrying out its views, from the fact of the few 
who by their knowledge, their education, their professional ability, or their 
habits, would be the proper persons fitted to carry these investigations 
to a satisfactory and, above all, to a beneficiary result. Veterinarians, 
in the true sense of the word, are only few yet in America, and we 
know, by European experience, that they are the ones who ought to 
have charge of these special studies. We know well enough that phy¬ 
sicians do not possess by their former education the qualifications which 
are so essential for success, and which, on the contrary, are found in 
all veterinarians; and from the beginning, what might be called a San¬ 
itary Veterinary Commission fails to be established by the want of com¬ 
petent workers. 
Still, it is the idea, it is the meaning of the communication. Yes, 
we need a Sanitary Veterinary Department, with its headquarters at 
Washington, in the rooms of the Agricultural Department. Veterinary 
science has its full recognition, its full work in all the departments of 
agriculture, why should we be behind the European governments in 
benefiting of this essential branch ? Let us fully impress our Acting 
Commissioner that he is right, that we, all men who have given as our 
life’s work the duty of looking over the interests of all, over the wealth 
of our land, over the health of our countrymen by taking care of do¬ 
mestic animals in their state of sickness, that we all approve of his 
new departure, and congratulate him upon its undertaking ; that we all 
place ourselves at his disposal and at that of his department in assisting 
him to form that Veterinary Sanitary Department, which in a short time 
he will recognize will save the country millions of dollars. 
We are only few in the United States, but each of us working in 
our own sphere can do an immense amount of good work. Let us offer 
our services for the good of the country, gratuitous, if necessary, to ful¬ 
fill the positions of Sanitary Veterinary Inspectors. We say gratuitous, 
for we may then ask from the department which will gain so much by 
our work, we may ask it to recognize our services, our indispensable 
value in the wheels of the agriculture of America by urging the estab¬ 
lishment of a National Veterinary Institute on the same plan as those 
of continental Europe. Institute where all branches of veterinary med¬ 
icine will be taught; where young men will learn to practice a profes¬ 
sion so essential to every one, individually and collectively. 
