154 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE VETERINARY DEPARTMENT OF 



ing to it from all quarters was increasing, and the reports 

 which the Directors received from the eminent professors, and 

 the members of the medical and veterinary professions who 

 formed the Society's A^eterinary Committee and Board of 

 Examiners, contained the most gratifying assurances of the 

 manner in which Professor Dick and his staff of teachers dis- 

 charged their important duties. At the examinations which 

 took place on the 24th and 25tli April there were in all thirty- 

 five students, and the certificate was conferred on thirty-three. 



Professor Goodsii', at the close of the examinations, said he 

 could not allow that opportunity to pass without saying a few 

 words to the .successful candidates. He did not require to 

 enlarge upon the object for which they had undergone these 

 examinations, and the great purpose for which they had received 

 their certificates. They were aware that such an examination 

 was an arrangement necessary for securing to the public efficient 

 veterinary practitioners. He needed also scarcely to warn them 

 against the assumption that their studies were completed, and 

 that they were to enter npon an entirely different course of pro- 

 fessional pursuit now that they had obtained this certificate. 

 On the contrary, he believed that what he now stated would be 

 corroborated by their examiners and their teachers, that their 

 real veterinary education was about to commence. They had 

 hitherto been trained in certain departments of science, and 

 they were called upon, now that they were about to enter upon 

 the actual duties of life, to continue, as far as their time and 

 their means would admit, their scientific studies. What was 

 looked for from them was not scientific efficiency but practical 

 efficiency ; but it so happened that every art, however simple it 

 might be, was really in itself a scientific art — it was something 

 which could be better done when they had an intimate know- 

 ledge of the principles upon which it was founded than if they 

 were ignorant of those principles. The learned Professor pro- 

 ceeded to show the necessity of a knowledge of the various 

 dejDartments of science to the intelligent and successful practice 

 of the art of medicine ; and after stating that scientific training 

 was equally necessary for veterinary practitioners, he said the 

 public had at last become convinced — more particularly by the 

 exertions of the Highland and Agricultural Society, as also by 

 those of their excellent Principal and Professor, Mr Dick — of 

 the proj^riety of combining scientific with practical training. 

 He had the pleasure of stating to them that the appearances 

 which they had made this season were highly satisfactory. He 

 believed the examiners were at one upon this, that their answers 

 had evinced not only careful training on the part of the teachers, 

 but continued study on their own part, both in the scientific and 

 practical departments of the profession. On no former occasion 



