EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
589 
science, have been added to anatomy, medicine, and surgery; 
and at this moment there is not, perhaps, a more varied or 
difficult course of study anywhere established than is required 
in this country from the candidates for the medical profession. 
As a mere effort of memory, the acquisition of the thousands 
of independent facts in anatomy alone would be marvellous, 
if it were not so common. That these facts are acquired 
proves the extent to which the mental powers may be 
developed by practice, and should be an encouragement to a 
yet higher and nobler exertion of the faculties. 
I do not, however, desire now to expatiate on the propriety 
of diligence in the acquirement of special knowledge. 
Experience will probably teach the student the necessity. 
There is another branch of study on which I wish par- 
ticularly to enlarge, because, while the student is attending 
the classes at the schools and hospitals, it is apt to be 
neglected, and there is hardly another that is more useful or 
attractive, — I mean what is commonly called a good “ pre- 
liminary education” — literature. 
There is a thoughtless cant against literature, which I have 
ever seen enunciated in some of our medical papers, which, 
nevertheless, affect to be the advocates of a “good pre- 
liminary education” — forgetting that the two are one thing. 
Science, they say, is our business, literature has no part in 
the practice of medicine. This idle sophism, which prevails 
somewhat extensively among us, is the cause of so large a 
number of our members being unable to express their 
sentiments in writing with propriety. I am no false witness, 
nor do I speak without knowledge. It would be curious to 
ascertain how many of the large number of young men who 
pass their examinations at the Royal College of Veterinary 
Surgeons are able to compose an essay according to the rules 
of grammar. The want of literature is the great defect in 
the education of the youths who enter our profession, and 
until it be remedied ours can never rise to the level of the 
other professions in social estimation. We are respected for 
our services, beloved for our zeal and sympathy with suffering, 
but we are not respected as members of an educated body. 
Those young men who are entering the profession should 
