2 8 THE VETERINARY PROFESSION 



dates for the diploma, a small percentage are too 

 lazy to qualify ; others, who are endowed with 

 more grit, take a pleasure in their work, and are 

 heartily sorry when they bid farewell to their 

 friends at the Royal Veterinary College in order 

 to take upon themselves the responsibilities of a 

 practice. 



At this epoch in the lives of newly-fledged 

 vets, it is of the utmost importance that they 

 should not only feel, but also inspire confidence 

 in their healing powers. Hitherto, they were 

 always able to consult a professor on any doubt- 

 ful points ; so it is not surprising that young men 

 who start in a district far removed from Camden 

 Town, are apt to be disconcerted by the great 

 change in their mode of life. Instead of being 

 light-hearted students any longer, their nerves get 

 upset when their surgery bell summons them to 

 treat a disease which they have only met with 

 theoretically, but which they cannot recognise 

 from an illustration. In course of time the re- 

 quisite experience is gained — too frequently at 

 the expense of their unfortunate patients ; for it 

 takes a long time to ascertain how to treat the 

 different constitutions of every horse and dog in 

 a large practice, to say nothing of choked bullocks, 

 swine fever cases, &c. &c. 



As an instance of high examination marks 

 being no criterion that a vet is competent, we 

 may mention that many an Indian student returns 

 to his home, highly qualified, certainly, but too 

 prone to regard sick animals from a text-point 

 of view. 



