500 ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 
has long been painfully sensible of the fact that neither the 
one nor the other is either what it should or might be ; 
and it considers that now, as narrow views are giving place 
to more enlightened ones, a favorable opportunity is offered 
for enabling it to acquit itself of its very highest duty, by 
seeking to make some important advances. 
The Council has, from time to time, been made conscious 
of the very little progress which has followed the existing 
system of entering the schools ; and is fully persuaded that 
at least one of the causes of the almost moribund condition 
of the body corporate is traceable to the pupil's being admitted 
to a participation in the professional teaching, without having 
been subjected to a test as to his general scholastic abilities. 
And the Council feels it to be a reproach that the mode of 
testing which is now so extensively resorted to in all situa- 
tions of life, where learning is necessary, has not yet been 
fully applied in the case of those whose ultimate object is 
that of becoming members of the Royal College of Veterinary 
Surgeons. 
There are alleged difficulties in the way of amendment in 
connection with this system, but we feel sure that they 
are more imaginary than real, and are capable of easy 
adjustment. 
One of these difficulties relates to the professor's interest 
in the admission fees; but we think that we are justified 
in concluding that any apprehension on this head must 
be unreal, for, in the instances in which the educational 
test has been introduced, the number of students has in- 
creased, and it has been said that there has been an appre- 
ciable advance in their general intelligence. In this cir- 
cumstance we have a full assurance that the interests of the 
professors will proceed pari passu with those of the Royal 
College and also of the public, which are so closely and 
inseparably connected. 
Another apparent difficulty is shadowed forth in that phase 
of the subject which bears upon the obligations which the 
Royal College may be said to be under to those youths who 
have commenced the study of veterinary medicine, with 
the prospective intention of completing their professional edu- 
cation at one of the schools in the United Kingdom. Upon 
this point we may venture to express an opinion that the 
proposed examination should be subject to such modifica- 
tions as the interest of those students, and the obligations 
which the Royal College is presumably under, may demand. 
The necessity for a much higher standard of education 
cannot be exaggerated, nevertheless the proposed system of 
