INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
791 
their power of imparting knowledge be ever so great, is 
rendered irksome and unsatisfactory from observing the slow 
progress made by their pupils. 
No matter how simple or how elementary the teaching 
may be, it will prove but partially productive unless the 
student by his previous educational training he properly 
prepared to receive instruction. As well might one expect a 
luxuriant crop from casting seeds into a barren or imperfectly 
tilled soil. 
To he thoroughly competent to diagnose and treat the 
diseases of the lower animals in all their phases, the amount 
of medical knowledge required is not less than that essential 
to the practitioner of human medicine. If, therefore , “ Know- 
ledge is power,” and if it be admitted that the preservation 
of the health of domesticated animals is only second in (at 
least national) importance to the maintenance of the health 
of man, I see no reason why the veterinarian should, if he 
but possess the right kind of ambition, occupy a social 
position in any way inferior to that of the physician or 
surgeon. To occupy such a position, however, not only must 
it be manifest that he is thoroughly conversant with the 
theory and practice of his profession, but he must also adopt 
the language, manners, and costume of a gentleman. While 
courteous in his demeanour to all classes of persons with 
which he may come in contact, he must have a pride above 
associating with grooms, coachmen, and jockeys. In other 
words, “ to be held in esteem, he must associate with those 
only who are estimable/’ 
There may be some of my audience, as I know there are 
persons elsewhere, who are opposed to youths intended for 
the veterinary profession receiving more than what is com- 
monly called “ a plain English education,” by which I 
suppose is meant just sufficient reading, writing, and arith- 
metic for the purely business purposes of life. Such objectors 
say that if the veterinary student be highly educated he will 
be over-refined and unwilling to perform many of the un- 
pleasant and offensive duties incidental to his pursuit ; that, 
in fact, to use a common expression, he will be above his 
work. To persons holding these opinions I would say that, 
experience in human medicine, at least, has long since proved 
the contrary to be the fact, and that the better the general 
and scientific education, and the greater the true refinements 
of the medical man, the greater is the interest he throws into 
his work, and the more ready is he to perform with his own 
hands operations and post-mortem examinations which for 
offensiveness are far worse than any performed by the vete- 
