REVIEW ON THE STUDY OF SURGERY. 269 
brotherhood, has, alas ! in too many instances proved the apple 
of discord. And enough of discord have we heard in the days 
of Coleman, Blaine and Youatt, and in the earlier life of our 
distinguished veteran, Bracy Clark; enough has been at- 
tempted to stifle the development of our liberal constitution 
when scarcely it has commenced to breathe in an atmosphere of 
freedom. 
We have reviewed Mr. Erichsen’s Introductory Lecture, not 
for the purpose of spreading wider his fame, as one of the most 
distinguished British surgeons of our day, but in the hope that 
the few extracts we have made from it may be perused without 
prejudice by veterinary teachers ; with zeal, and a determination 
to follow the precepts contained in them, by veterinary students; 
and with profit by all members of our profession ; the senior 
among whom may, in reflecting on our comments on the pro- 
duction of a human surgeon, remember the day when the lec- 
ture-rooms of the most celebrated medical men in London were 
open to veterinary students. Now, in the proud (may it not be 
vain !) belief, that the education within the walls of our only 
veterinary school south of the Tweed is sufficiently extended, 
the great majority of students (with very rare exceptions) 
never think of searching for knowledge beyond the walls of the 
St. Pancras school, apparently confiding in the learning there 
imparted being sufficient to obtain a diploma. We stated in 
our last Number, that, as hitherto conducted, the examinations 
of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons have not been 
so satisfactory as could be desired ; though, consistently with 
justice to the student, they cannot be materially altered until 
the system of education is extended. 
For this reform means are not wanting, and surely the scope 
and aim are not. The objects of the veterinary surgeon’s cares 
are, it is true, beings whose all begins and ends with time on 
earth. He, unlike the practitioner of human medicine and sur- 
gery, aims at saving animal life for economical purposes alone. 
But surely, if England be, as it assuredly is, the greatest nation 
in the world for the purity of its breeds and increase of value 
of its domesticated animals, it should be distinguished above all 
