426 THE MEANS OF PREVENTION. 



ercised with respect to every move we make. Wliile there is no way 

 bj which we can prevent State schools, and, if we may judge from 

 the past, private schools also, so long as our legislators are as igno- 

 rant and heedless as they now are with reference to the proper 

 relations of our medical institutions, by which I mean schools, 

 practitioners, etc., we must make every effort to discourage their 

 estabhshment. We may be certain that the young veterinary aspi- 

 rants will go to that school which gives them the best education at 

 the least expense. There is but one way in which a national school 

 can hope to kill out private and State institutions of a similar char- 

 acter. That loay is to make it free to the students, ^j free I mean 

 conditionally. I would have the annual fees, including everything, 

 fixed at one hundred dollars, payable semi-annually. Each and 

 every student should be obliged to pay them. But the conditions 

 upon which each student may receive his education free, should be 

 that all students who pass a successful examination at the first trial 

 for the diploma of the institute should receive back all the fees paid 

 in, inclusive of the examination fee during the course of study re- 

 quired by the school ; any students failing in their first examina- 

 tion, or retiring from it, except for sickness, or not completing the 

 course, to forfeit all fees paid in. I am a bitter enemy to the prize 

 system, which selects one, two, or three students, who may acci- 

 dentally pass a better examination than their fellows ; but the above 

 plan, being open to all, is certainly in the interest of parents and 

 students, and should offer an extra stimulus to study. The prize 

 system is degrading, for an examination is seldom a just criterion of 

 the comp^ing student's ability ; the parrot students generally win 

 this prize, while the men of character and individuality win those 

 of the world. A school examination is a hard thing for men of 

 real character. It is generally too iniich hooh^ and not enough in- 

 clined to draw the real knowledge from the student. To carry out 

 this plan, and pay the expenses of the school in the manner which 

 we shall in part detail, requires a large interest-bearing fund, but 

 the income to the country at large will more than justify the invest- 

 ment. 



The course of study must extend over four full years, of ten months 

 each, with an interval at the Christmas holidays. This may seem 

 excessive, in comparison to the two-session course of many Ameri- 

 can medical schools, but a proper education^ an education equal to 

 the demands of the time, and in the spirit of modern science, can 

 not be obtained in less. While, at the period of my studies at Ber- 

 lin, the full session was limited to three years, mine was the last class 



