236 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



successful and skilful in practice, but chiefly from a want 

 of natural adaptability to the profession they have chosen, 

 mistakably for themselves, and a source of disappointment 

 to tlieir patrons. 



Thus Mr. Greaves, the present president of the London 

 College of Veterinary Surgeons, and one of the most expert 

 and successful members of his profession to be found in 

 any country, says in the Veterinarian^ (periodical) that 

 among the certified pupils leaving college, many cannot 

 even tell which leg a horse is lame in. Again, he says 

 that on account of this, and the want of confidence of the 

 public in them, the pxidical man, though ignorant, is 

 preferred to the practitioners who write M. R. C. V. S. L. 

 after their names. This then is the present status of the 

 profession, at least in so far as the English College is 

 concerned, and it is too much so everywhere. To insure a 

 uniform standard of efficiency in veterinarians, we invari- 

 ably make a preliminary examination of each person before 

 admission to studentship. This examination is not in the 

 abstract sciences, but in those matters, the possession of 

 which, when put together, form common sense, or a good 

 judgment of things and phenomena. It is for the want of 

 such merit in the purely scientific, that little or no room is 

 left for practical matters and their application. 



The science of Gamgee did not discover the cause of 

 Texan Fever ; whereas, we think if he had but stooped to 

 look at common and unhidden things, the apparent mystery 

 would ere this time have been closed up. We would not, 

 however, under-rate science ; for when it is associated with 

 gO(Kl judgment, it is the key to success in veterinary 

 medicine and surgery. We desire to add, in this connec- 

 tion, the lamentable fact that in cities and large towns, and 

 indeed all over the country, persons will be found who call 



