THEDEAD COW LECTURE First-year students at the Purdue Vet School were attending their first anatomyclass with a real dead cow. They all gathered around the surgery table with thebody covered with a white sheet.
Theprofessor started the class by telling them, "In Veterinary medicine it isnecessary to have two important qualities as a doctor. The first is that younot be disgusted by anything involving the animal's body." For an example,the professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the cow,withdrew it, and stuck his finger in his mouth. "Go ahead and do the same thing,"he told his students.
Thestudents freaked out, hesitated for several minutes, but eventually took turnssticking a finger in the butt of the dead cow and sucking on it.
Wheneveryone finished, the Professor looked at them and said, "The second mostimportant quality is observation. I stuck in my middle finger and sucked on myindex finger. Now learn to pay attention. Life's tough but it's even tougher ifyou're stupid."