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TJi£ Country Gentlcmaiis Magazine 



cannot expect to become more tlian mere 

 automatons, moved only by the impulse of 

 selfish desires and mercenary motives. 



The want of ability to conduct accurate 

 investigations into the causes of disease, as 

 well as the cause of death in animals 

 generally, and we may add, to carry on a 

 successful rural practice, is not always 

 entirely the fault of the practitioner. The 

 system of education has much, if not all, to 

 do with it. The training of veterinarians 

 has not been as well conducted as it might 

 have been. 



The period of time required by the college 

 regulations — viz., two sessions of five months 

 each, is by far too short to enable any man 

 to acquire proficiency in the many subjects 

 which comprise the veterinarian's knowledge 

 and stock in trade. The fees likewise are 

 too low. 



Although our seminaries have had the 

 effect, since their first estabhshment in Eng- 

 land, of wresting from the hands of many 

 quack pretenders and itinerant vendors of 

 drugs much of the practice among domestic 

 animals, yet they have not accomplished one 

 quarter of the work which they might have 

 done. They have not set themselves before 

 the world as institutions in which the inves- 

 tigation of science shall precede its exposi- 

 tion, but on the contrary they have been the 

 nurseries of private opinions. Situated as 

 they are in the midst of large towns or cities 

 no opportunities are offered for the cultiva- 

 tion of observation and research, except 

 upon the carcase, which is usually that of a 

 healthy animal slaughtered for the purpose 

 of dissection. The patients are mostly horses, 

 besides which a few dogs may be admitted, 

 but sheep and cattle are rarely seen, and no 

 practice is undertaken out of doors. In the 

 absence of opportunities, we cannot feel 

 surprised that our progress is slow, and that 

 good country practitioners are few and far 

 between. It is notorious that in several 

 selections that have been made for positions 

 entirely designed to disseminate sound know- 

 ledge on the diseases of cattle, sheep, and 

 pigs, the fortunate persons have been young 

 men who have not seen six months practice 



in the department, neither delivered a lecture 

 of any kind in their lives. Thus their orations 

 must be extracted from books, mostly written 

 /;/ cxtenso, and, as such^ read year after year, 

 with all the errors that have been added by 

 the piratical compiler in order to render them 

 novel and pass them off as original produc- 

 tions. 



What we have to complain of at the pre- 

 sent time is the want of greater unanimity 

 and sincerity among the heads of the pro- 

 fession, as concerning the all-important prin- 

 ciple of education. The great principle 

 hitherto acknowledged has been entire oppo- 

 sition to change or improvement. The con- 

 sequences are that the profession is appa- 

 rently as it was nearly a hundred years ago, 

 still in its leading strings — dependent upon 

 medical men as examiners, preferred on com- 

 missions, as if they knew more about the ail- 

 ments of domestic animals than veterinarians; 

 and they have also been selected to represent 

 us in foreign assemblies of veterinary surgeons ! 



If this action had been enacted at the 

 period above-named, when none but unlettered 

 men existed, it might have been borne 

 without a murmur, but after men have de- 

 voted years of attention, toil, and study to 

 the dearest object of their lives, and by 

 unwearied zeal in the cause of science 

 have raised the profession through opposi- 

 tion, strife, and all manner of obstacles to 

 progress, to a dignified place among the in- 

 stitutions of mankind, it is cruel that they 

 should be passed by, and see others, who 

 have done nothing, take the position with 

 all resulting emolument and honour. 



We are not inclined to convey the idea 

 that nothing has been effected, or that the 

 profession is in a moribund condition, but 

 schools have too much of the element of 

 private institutions in them ; they should be 

 under the control of Government. Until Agri- 

 culture can see clearly the connexion that 

 exists between itself and Veterinary Science, 

 and obtains a proper representative in the 

 person of a Minister of Agriculture, the pro- 

 gress we hope for will not come. The 

 thousands of animals that cover our hills re- 

 present an immense annual value, and from 



