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UNITED STATES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 303 
by the bill presented last winter before the Legislature, in session 
at Albany. The words of the bill were made known to you, and, 
therefore, without passing remarks upon the bill, without stating 
anything about its propriety, its powers, etc., and the objections 
which were brought against it, we may only say that it was nicely 
pigeon-holed and left there. Why should I bring this before you 
now and what has this bill to do with veterinary education ? you 
may ask. With your permission, I will answer that I mention it 
at present as I consider that veterinary education for me, as one 
of jour committee, is not only relating to education in schools or 
colleges, and to those who wish to enter that profession, but to 
education at large—to veterinary education of our people. Why 
is it that so-called veterinarians, who can neither read nor write, 
that self-called veterinarians, wdio are ignorant of any of the 
fundamental principles of medicine, are allowed to practice ? 
Why is it that veterinary schools are permitted to turn out regu¬ 
lar graduates after a few months’ study of a science which, we 
all know, requires several years before the beginning of it can 
be understood ? Why is it that here quackery and ignorance, with 
impudence and audacity, impose themselves on the public, while the 
self-made or the regularly educated veterinarian has to work hard 
to make his way ? and, finally, why is it that such a bill as the one 
alluded to was pigeon-holed. The answer I have no hesitancy in 
giving is, because our people are ignorant of what constitutes the 
elements of education of the veterinarian, and that for the pub¬ 
lic as yet, our profession, the business of a horse doctor, of the 
cow leech, of the gelders, are all the same. 
The veterinary education of the people, then, is, I think, a 
subject which is worthy our attention and deserving some of our 
efforts. 
It is generally admitted by all that the most powerful means 
of educating the people is the press, and certainly we will acknowl¬ 
edge that probably the educated standing of a nation might be 
measured by the quality and prosperity of its periodicals, be 
what they may, political, religious, agricultural, medical or 
veterinary ; and if the press is the means of educating the people 
as to the requirements of veterinary surgery, if by it we can show 
