268 REVIEW ON THE STUDY OF SURGERY. 
“ In your intercourse with the public, conduct yourselves in a 
manner that is not only worthy of you as gentlemen, but in 
such a way as should characterise the members of a learned 
and dignified profession. Let no man say that it can signify 
little to the body to which he belongs how he may individually 
act. From the very first day of your career as students you 
constitute a part of the profession, and owe a duty to it as well 
as to yourselves, and may, according as you act therein, exer- 
cise an influence for good or for evil upon it. The profession 
to which you belong will be judged of in a great measure in 
your own circle, by the friends who immediately surround you, 
from your behaviour. Let that, therefore, always be marked 
by liberality, by courtesy, by truthfulness, by the cultivation of 
the amenities of polished life; in a word, by all that should 
constitute the character and deportment of a gentleman. Let 
these be the guides of your conduct, not only as students, but 
in after life, when you will be called upon to take your part in 
questions affecting the interests and welfare of the body to 
which you belong : endeavour, then, to act, not merely for your 
own interests, nor for the interests of your own class or section 
of the profession alone, nor for the advantage of this institution 
or that college ; but act to the best of your judgment in an en- 
larged and catholic spirit of liberality, with a hearty desire to do 
what seems best to you for the profession as a whole, and for 
the general welfare of its members.” 
The greater part of these passages refer particularly to the 
duties of students; but even by many senior members of our 
profession some of the advice contained in them is greatly 
needed. So momentous is the import of the following sentences, 
and so incalculable would be the benefit if all members of the 
veterinary profession would act in accordance with them, that, 
at the risk of being accused of tautological error, we reiterate 
them. — “ Endeavour then to act, not merely for your own inte- 
rests, nor for the interests of your own class or section of the 
profession alone, nor for the interests of this institution or that 
college; but act to the best of your judgment in an enlarged 
and catholic spirit of liberality, with a hearty desire to do what 
seems best to you for the profession as a whole, and for the 
general welfare of its members.” 
Unfortunately, we have hitherto had much reason to deplore 
the absence of the “ enlarged and catholic spirit of liberality.” 
Our Charter, which it was hoped would prove the link of 
