UG ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS, 
volens, as it were, come to the conclusions which the Council, 
to my mind, without that amount of deliberation which the 
question demands, have determined to accept, I am utterly 
astonished. There is among all the names of the members of 
the Committee only one which carries with it the authority 
of a teacher, although, as I contend, it is entirely an edu- 
cational question, and one which no person who has not been 
a teacher is competent to determine unaided by the advice 
and co-operative assistance of the teachers. You have, it is true, 
the name of Professor Gamgee. With that exception none of 
the Committee have ever been engaged in teaching, and yet 
you have come almost to a settlement of the affair. I have 
again and again expressed my desire that the pupils, prior to 
the obtainment of their diplomas, should have a thorough 
practical education ; and if a proper test could be applied, and 
their education were such as to warrant it, I would be the 
first man to hold up both my hands for it. But the step 
which you now propose to take will he taken in the dark. It 
would be the greatest folly in the world to institute this pro- 
posed practical examination unless you are prepared to 
carry it out in an efficient and effectual manner, and I say 
that you are not possessed of the materials, and that you have 
not sufficiently considered this subject to warrant you in 
coming to the conclusions to which you have arrived. I have 
my own ideas with regard to the best means to be pursued 
in order to ensure that amount of practical knowledge which 
the public have a right to expect from a graduated member 
of our profession ; but if you think that you are going to put 
the screw upon us by instituting what I should call a fan- 
ciful, imperfect examination, which it must necessarily be 
with the materials you have at your disposal to carry it out, you 
are very much mistaken. And let me add that the collegiate 
schools are not the places wherein a suffieient amount of 
manipulative practical information can be given. It must be 
given elsewhere. If you pursue the course you have suggested 
I have no hesitation in stating that you will fail to effect the 
object you have in view. 
The President : As I am a member of that Committee, 
and also of the Examining Board, I rise with all the power I 
possess to vindicate the industry and intelligence which the 
members of the Committee have brought to bear upon the 
subject. If the heads of some of the best men in the pro- 
fession are capable of settling this matter, I say it is now ripe. 
I quite coincide with their conclusions. I have frequently 
heard keen, disparaging remarks against the examiners, 
and they have been accused of not being up to the education 
