ON PRELIMINARY AND PRACTICAL EXAMINATIONS. 305 
diploma purporting that he is qualified to practise the art 
and science of veterinary surgery, “ he should he shown and 
carefully taught how to do anything in connection with every 
kind of case he may hereafter be called upon to treat/’ I am 
not now discussing the question when or where he should 
acquire this knowledge, or who should teach it him, but this 
I say most emphatically, he ought to be in actual possession 
of the knowledge, or else he should not have a diploma granted 
him ; neither the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, nor 
any other body of men who may have the slightest regard 
for their character, or are desirous of making good their 
claim to the title of honorable men, can grant diplomas to 
men in whom there is an absence of that knowledge which 
your diploma vouches for them possessing. The Council and 
Court of Examiners have a plain and sacred duty to perform, 
and the profession generally expect them to perform it pro- 
perly. I care not where, when, or how, the deficiency has 
happened, whether it is because the student has never re- 
ceived a practical education in his youth as an apprentice, or 
whether it is because he has never been practically instructed 
whilst matriculating at the college. I maintain, the plain, 
simple, and bounden duty of the Examiners and the Council 
of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, as conscientious 
and honorable men, is to withhold their signatures from any 
certificate or diploma until they are quite satisfied the candi- 
date possesses the knowledge that such certificate or diploma 
vouches for. There are means for getting at the knowledge 
assumed to be possessed by the student only by the practical 
examination test. Is it not perfectly natural to suppose that 
the student who is unable to answer simple questions or 
perform simple duties on the horse or cow before the ex- 
amination to-day, will be equally unable to answer simple 
questions or perform simple duties on the horse or cow before 
his employer or the public to-morrow, after he has got his 
diploma? 
I find in France and throughout the continent, in Germany 
and Prussia, &c., the preliminary examination is not adopted 
because every child there is given a sound, substantial educa- 
tion ; compulsory education is the law of the land. But at 
Alfort and at Lyons, and at all the German schools, Berlin, 
Dresden, Stuttgart, &c., the practical examination on clinical 
subjects is the universal custom, is very strict, and lasts over 
many days; all students are required to perform different 
operations in the presence of the examining board. I would 
respectfully suggest to the Council that the examiner should 
take the student on any or all the following subjects, get 
