480 
EDITORIAL. 
boards of health is one of unusual importance to us at this juncture 
of our existence as a profession, struggling for recognition from a 
government that seems so apathetic in its appreciativeness of our 
merits, and it is with the hope that the opinions therein expressed 
may excite renewed interest and comment, that we publish in 
this number, from one of our co-laborators, a lengthy article on 
the organization of a Veterinary Sanitary Bureau. 
The obstacles to the early accomplishment of such a success as 
the establishment of a bureau of this kind would be, are certainly 
patent to the most casual observer in our ranks who is at all ac¬ 
quainted with the deficient knowledge of public officers in matters 
pertaining to hygiene and sanitary laws; and in light of the 
recent experiences undergone by our professional brethren of 
European countries in the formation of similar institutions, we 
cannot conceal the grave doubts we have of an immediate 
realization of our hopes in this direction, for if the governments 
of those countries in which veterinary science is at its highest 
development, have for so long a time ignored its claims, how 
mnch less effective must be our importunities while we have yet 
to acknowledge the weakness of our infancy. 
Lying in the seeming interspace between human and veterin¬ 
ary sanitary police, and linking the one to the other, is the office 
of meat inspector. When we consider that the principles of sani¬ 
tary science which underlie all rules of health are alike applicable 
to man and beast, we cannot deny that the recognition of the im¬ 
portance of these principles must ever be dependent upon the 
individual understanding of the sanitarian, and that he will be 
most efficient in the performance of his duties who comprehends 
the most fully these laws, and readily recognizes the necessity for 
their employment. 
It is this specially acquired intelligence which must ever 
pre-eminently adapt the veterinarian for the position of meat 
inspector, for no other can be so well fitted to detect the presence 
of disease in the animal intended for slaughter, or the evidences 
of its previous existence in the meat that is offered for sale. 
It is in this position the services of the veterinary surgeon 
must be most potent for the preservation of human health, for 
