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The Law in France Regarding Veterinary Service
300
THE
VETERINARY
JOURNAL
THE LAW IN FRANCE REGARDING VETERINARY
SERVICE
IN our June issue we published a resume of the law which has been recently passed by the French Senate for the benefit both of the animal owner and the animals themselves, by making it a punishable offence for an unqualified person not only to call himself by the title of " veterinary surgeon" but in any way to act as if he possessed veterinary qualifications or even veterinary skill. In other words, the day of the empiric and the charlatan has come to a close in France, as is already the case in Norway and Spain. In this month's issue we publish in full the Regulations which control veterinary science in the first-named of these three, and every paragraph The status of the "docteur will be read with interest by our readers. veterinaire" is exactly of the same standing as the doctor of human medicine, and it is a warning lesson that there must be no "half-way house," in that the granting of a special certificate of "expert farrier" led to such abuse and assumption of power on the part of the recipients-who posed as fully qualified men-that the granting of this certificate has been stopped.
In Great Britain, in order to doctor sick animals one needn't possess any qualification or diploma at all, and it will be of interest to our readers if we draw special attention to the origin of the "special certificate" which, in France, dubbed a man as being an " expert farrier." We read that the practice goes back to 1815, when by Imperial decree certain veterinarians chosen by the Prefect were obliged to keep a shoeing forge and to train pupils, to whom they could give, after two years' apprenticeship, the certificat~ of " expert farrier"; and we read that" this experiment When marked the ongtn of veterinary empmClsm in France." one looks around at the difference between the opportunities for learning and scientific study which are now available for the veterinary student of to-day and compares it with the state of affairs which existed even only fifty years ago, the contrast is almost unbelievable. Much more remains to be done, and, in fact, the world never finishes, for the man or woman who believes in a "stand still" policy as being beneficial for the progress of the profession has struck the wrong notion, and everybody must come into line for the benefit of our animal patients, and for our own scientific status. We in England will all watch with more than ordinary interest the result of this law in France, and the subterfuges which will be attempted in order to evade it, that we may benefit by the example set by them.
THE
VETERINARY
JOURNAL
THE LAW IN FRANCE REGARDING VETERINARY
SERVICE
IN our June issue we published a resume of the law which has been recently passed by the French Senate for the benefit both of the animal owner and the animals themselves, by making it a punishable offence for an unqualified person not only to call himself by the title of " veterinary surgeon" but in any way to act as if he possessed veterinary qualifications or even veterinary skill. In other words, the day of the empiric and the charlatan has come to a close in France, as is already the case in Norway and Spain. In this month's issue we publish in full the Regulations which control veterinary science in the first-named of these three, and every paragraph The status of the "docteur will be read with interest by our readers. veterinaire" is exactly of the same standing as the doctor of human medicine, and it is a warning lesson that there must be no "half-way house," in that the granting of a special certificate of "expert farrier" led to such abuse and assumption of power on the part of the recipients-who posed as fully qualified men-that the granting of this certificate has been stopped.
In Great Britain, in order to doctor sick animals one needn't possess any qualification or diploma at all, and it will be of interest to our readers if we draw special attention to the origin of the "special certificate" which, in France, dubbed a man as being an " expert farrier." We read that the practice goes back to 1815, when by Imperial decree certain veterinarians chosen by the Prefect were obliged to keep a shoeing forge and to train pupils, to whom they could give, after two years' apprenticeship, the certificat~ of " expert farrier"; and we read that" this experiment When marked the ongtn of veterinary empmClsm in France." one looks around at the difference between the opportunities for learning and scientific study which are now available for the veterinary student of to-day and compares it with the state of affairs which existed even only fifty years ago, the contrast is almost unbelievable. Much more remains to be done, and, in fact, the world never finishes, for the man or woman who believes in a "stand still" policy as being beneficial for the progress of the profession has struck the wrong notion, and everybody must come into line for the benefit of our animal patients, and for our own scientific status. We in England will all watch with more than ordinary interest the result of this law in France, and the subterfuges which will be attempted in order to evade it, that we may benefit by the example set by them.