EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 357 
head or occupier of that house, by such a time and with cer- 
tified accuracy, under liability of summons before a magistrate, 
and the imposition of a penalty of five pounds. Can the 
Registrar of our College proceed on any such compulsory plan ? 
Has he any tools such as “ pains and penalties” to work with ? 
He commenced his labour by sending a circular letter, containing 
certain queries to be answered by the recipient, to every mem- 
ber of the veterinary profession whose address could with any 
accuracy be ascertained. And what was the result? Why, 
that numbers of letters remained unreturned ! Many persons 
to whom they were sent manifested a total disregard of the 
missives, while others set themselves in direct opposition to the 
call. The Registrar, in fact, was thwarted, or at least suc- 
ceeded only to a limited extent. 
The public registrar, but for the supporting power of the law, 
would have been similarly or even worse treated. What our 
Registrar wants is some such power as this; or, that not being 
obtainable, some inducement on the part of the individual ap- 
pealed to, to answer to his call ; — some demonstration of ad- 
vantage thereby to be obtained, or of some disadvantage evi- 
dently incurrible by that member who does not choose to comply. 
Might not the annual publication of the names of those resident 
in the several counties, in the newspapers most read in such 
counties, have some telling effect, particularly if a short notice 
were appended to the provincial list, to say, that none other 
persons resident in the county, save those whose names ap- 
peared in the list, were known as Members of the Royal College 
of Veterinary Surgeons? Such notification might induce num- 
bers, for their own credits’ sake, to send their names and 
addresses to the Registrar, in order that the provincial public — 
their employers especially — might not be misinformed on this 
head. The cost of this annual advertising would not be great 
— not greater at least than the present finance of the College 
can very well bear ; and it is an experiment which, we are of 
opinion, is well worth trying. In addition to which, we think, 
the same end might, perhaps, be furthered by forwarding such 
lists to the compilers of provincial and general directories, with 
a request that they would insert the names therein contained as 
VOL. XXIV. 3 c 
