594 
NTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
ours during the coming session harmoniously to progress 
together. May the common object we are pursuing be kept 
steadily in view by us, and a spirit of emulation being 
awakened, may each provoke the other to the performance of 
those acts which, while they tend to advance the best interests 
of our profession, shall cause the scholastic session of 1854-5 
to be remembered above all the others that have preceded it, 
and “which are now numbered with the years beyond the 
flood.” 
I have alluded to duties existent between the teachers and 
the taught; and I know that it has been customary on such 
an occasion as this to speak of the fitness of the individuals 
who have been selected to fill the prominent and responsible 
offices of instructors. Now, “there are some things that are 
more honoured in the breach than in the performance,” 
therefore I shall venture to deviate from this custom, simply 
observing that to the majority of you we are not unknown, 
nor are we of yesterday’s appointment. The abilities God 
has given us will, we trust, be honestly exercised for your 
mental profit, and we fervently hope that we shall become 
cordially united by the cultivation of those sentiments which 
ennoble man, and spring from a conviction of the account- 
ability that is connected with the position in which we are 
placed towards you. 
It has been my good fortune during the long time that I 
have been connected with this Institution, to have witnessed 
a marked improvement take place in the curriculum of your 
studies, at which I heartily rejoice. But do I think it now 
perfect? Far from it. We must continue to go on to add 
and to improve, for all the sciences in this our day are pro- 
gressing, consequently not to advance is relatively to go back. 
Besides which I am of opinion that the time is not far distant 
when other divisions of science will be made necessary parts 
of the education of the student of Veterinary Medicine, by 
which his usefulness will be increased, and he become more 
highly esteemed ; and my aspiration is that this may take 
place ere the curtain of eternity, with its starry folds, is 
dropped between us. I allude to Botany, Natural Philosophy, 
or Physics, Practical and Agricultural Chemistry, and 
Hygiene. My reason for so saying is, I hold that schools 
like this should take the initiative, and not wait for the 
“pressure from without” to cause them to act. The 
standard, too, of education should be placed high, and thus 
that love of enquiry and investigation will be awakened 
among the pupils which, as they become members of the 
profession, w ill diffuse itself throughout the mass, enabling it 
