254 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 
the sooner the matter was set right the better. For years 
Edinburgh had had a practical examination, and the students 
were required to show their manipulatory skill, and to point 
out the lame leg, &c., of a diseased animal. 
Mr. Fleming said, though failure in the practical examina- 
tion at Edinburgh did not entirely prevent a student from 
passing, it went very much against him. 
Mr. Wilkinson thought, when a student offered himself for 
his diploma, he ought to be qualified to do certain things, 
such as tell the lame leg of a horse and the difference between a 
cataract and that crystalline -looking substance intheback part 
of the eye which is supposed (though it is disputed by some) 
to mark the entrance to the optic nerve. If he was not 
acquainted with these and similar things, he was not com- 
petent to enter upon practice. If he passed in one or two 
important points, the examiners might look leniently on other 
matters. 
The President said the necessity for the practical examina- 
nation was most urgent ; but the Committee had suggested 
nothing which a youth about to practise on his own account 
ought not fairly to be expected to pass. Still, if it would 
be more agreeable to Professor Spooner that the examination 
should not be carried out till next year, notice of the change 
being given in the mean time, he (the President) would be 
quite willing to agree to such an arrangement. 
Professor Spooner thought the Council were out of order 
in this discussion. The report should be considered para- 
graph by paragraph, and discussed. A statement could then 
be drawn out, embodying the views of the Council, and the 
Bye-Laws could afterwards be altered accordingly, so as to 
impart the necessary information to the pupils. 
The President said he did not think an alteration of the 
Bye-Laws necessary. 
Professor Spooner complained that the professors at the 
schools had not been permitted to take part in the discussion 
of the question by the Committee. 
The President said, when the Committee was first ap- 
pointed he moved, and Mr. Cartwright seconded, a motion 
that the professors should form part of it, but such motion 
was lost. 
Mr. Wilkinson said the Committee considered that the 
proper way to deal with the subject was to put it into some 
sort of shape first, and then seek the co-operation of the 
professors. 
Professor Spooner. — I have no objection to that ; but 
these suggestions should not be passed at once into law 
