315 
THE VETERINARIAN, APRIL 1, 1870. 
Ne quid falsi dicer e audeat, ne quid veri non audeat. — Cicero. 
THE ADMISSION OE PATIENTS TO VETERINARY 
HOSPITALS. 
At the risk of perpetrating a plagiarism we must remind 
our readers that opinions upon any given subject are certain 
to differ according to the stand-point of view from which the 
subject is regarded. If everybody were to discuss contro- 
versial questions in exactly the same state of mind and 
feeling in respect to their nature and bearing, of course 
everybody would come to precisely the same conclusions 
respecting them; all this sounds, and is indeed, very common- 
place, but nevertheless it is pertinent to the present question, 
which has hitherto always been looked at from two opposite 
points of view. 
Some of the members of the veterinary profession practis- 
ing in London have, ere now, more than once complained of 
the injury which is done to them by the reception of patients 
at the Royal Veterinary College ; it is only a fair presump- 
tion, therefore, that any attempt to attract a large number 
of sick animals by remitting the usual fees would be un- 
favorably received by many who look to immediate results 
from a pecuniary point of view. It is not our intention to 
complain of this, because there is a certain amount of 
cogency in the arguments which have been advanced by 
those who contend that the colleges which receive fees from 
men for the purpose of teaching them a profession, by the 
practice of which they may live, are morally bound not to 
appropriate to themselves the patients which should be 
distributed among tlieir graduates. This is merely one view 
of the question, and in itself it is not easily answered ; but 
there is another view which involves a conclusion exactly 
opposed to the first one. It cannot, for example, be denied 
that clinical practice is for the pupil not only a very im- 
portant, but even essential part of his professional education. 
