126 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
grievance ; the Council of the College only asks that can- 
didates for the diploma shall show that they possess those 
qualifications which have hitherto been placed to their credit 
without question. To those students who have had oppor- 
tunities of practice before their entrance to the colleges, the 
examination will be as “ a thrice-told tale those who have 
neglected to initiate themselves into the handiwork of their 
profession, must set themselves rightly and strongly to learn 
their duty, “ knowing that for failure there is no consolation.” 
On the subject of the time, place, and duration of 
the examination, we have little to say ; the thing being 
essentially a good and necessary thing, must be carried out 
in the most effective manner attainable, with the present 
available machinery. The w r ork will be much facilitated if 
the Colleges co-operate with the Council, and a still greater 
benefit would be gained from their assistance if our 
veterinary museums contained models and preparations 
similar to those which are to be found in the Continental 
schools. 
The duration of the practical examination is an important 
part of the scheme; as far as we can see, the candidates 
must be examined singly, otherwise the work done by one 
student will inevitably be imitated by the others. Fifty 
or sixty candidates, each one requiring a period of not less 
than an hour to be devoted to him, will occupy five or 
six days, according to the number of examiners and the 
division of subjects. If four examiners were engaged in 
different parts of — say, for instance — the Royal Veterinary 
College infirmary, they might fairly test twenty candidates 
in one day in reference to the horse, and by adopting the 
same system another day in a dairy, or the lairs attached to 
a cattle market might complete the examination. 
There are difficulties to overcome, doubtless, and the 
committee in drawing up a scheme for the approval of the 
Council will have to take a variety of conditions into 
account. One thing is clear, the Council is pledged to 
the establishment of a test of the practical knowledge 
of candidates for the diploma, and whatever may be the 
extent of the difficulties which may affect the carrying out 
of the idea, they are bound to meet them with an honest 
