792 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
rinary surgeon. A liberal education is likewise opposed by 
some on the ground that it “ won’t pay.” If a man enters 
the profession with the idea of simply and solely using it as 
a means of making money, and so degrading it to the level 
of a trade — if, in other words, his only object be to make a 
fortune — then, perhaps, to such as he the time and money 
expended upon the attainment of a good education may not 
possibly yield that pecuniary return to which, commercially 
considered, he may consider himself entitled. But though 
he may succeed without such acquirement in “ doing a 
good trade,” he will, in the absence of education, fail to 
obtain that social position which it should be the pride of 
every professional man to endeavour to gain. Moreover, he 
will be poor in knowledge, which alone affords pleasures that 
wealth cannot procure, which poverty cannot take away, and 
which, in the leisure moments of the possessor and when he 
withdraws from active work, supplies that resource which 
constitutes healthful pastime, and that true and never-ending 
happiness for which the mere money-maker may sigh in vain. 
Therefore, let the acquisition of knowledge be your constant 
aim, and to apply it with wisdom your constant endeavour ; 
for — 
“ Knowledge, when wisdom is too weak to guide her. 
Is like a headstrong horse that throws the rider.” 
In the hope that I have said sufficient to enforce the claims 
of a good general education on your attention, let me now 
advert to some of the studies with which you will be required 
to busy yourself during your pupilage within these walls. 
The subjects to which you will have to give your attention 
are anatomy, chemistry, physiology, materia medica, patho- 
logy, and the practice of medicine and surgery, so far as they 
relate to the treatment of the maladies affecting what are 
conventionally termed the domesticated animals. 
If a man undertakes to repair a steam engine it is obvious 
to every one that, in order that he may successfully perform 
his task, he must previously possess an intimate knowledge 
of every part of a similar engine in perfect working condition, 
of the relative positions which each part of the structure 
must occupy, and of the offices which such parts have to 
perform during the action or working of the machine. So 
with yourselves, you hope some day to be entrusted with the 
repair of the health of animals, and in order that you may 
perform your duties with satisfaction to your clients and with 
confidence to yourselves you must, during your studentship, 
become thoroughly acquainted with the structure and relative 
