298 
ACCOUNT OF THE DINNER. 
tempts on more than one occasion. How satisfactory would it be, 
particularly to the young practitioner, to have a body like the 
Council to appeal to 1 and if, in such case, it should appear, after 
careful examination, that the conduct of the practitioner was free 
from blame, it behoved them to rise as one man to support the party 
so attacked ; and he hoped that there would be a fund established 
to apply to a purpose so laudable. He was pleased to find, on a 
recent occasion, when in attendance on the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England as one of a deputation from the town in which 
he resided, that there were several of the profession present; for the 
more we can be brought into close and intimate association with 
that body the better would it be for us. Whether we consider its 
royal patronage, its princely supporters, the number, the wealth, 
and the rank of its members, the good it has accomplished or the 
benefits it seeks to obtain, it is one of the most noble and deserving 
which this or any other country has ever yet produced. It is by 
their connexion with this society, and by other means, that they 
will be enabled to rescue the great amount of cattle practice from 
the hands of the ignorant cowleech, and give it as a legitimate 
emolument to the man of science. Let them do this, and they will 
earn the lasting gratitude of country practitioners, who will join 
with them in blessing the day when the Charter was obtained. 
In conclusion, Mr. Spooner begged permission to propose a toast, 
and that was the health of two gentlemen who, though each well 
deserving of a distinct compliment, he would yet, at this late period 
of the evening, couple together, and more particularly as one of 
them was obliged to leave from indisposition. Of him, then, he 
would first speak, and his absence afforded him a better opportu- 
nity of doing so. He was a namesake of his own, but unconnected 
by ties of consanguinity. They were, however, fellow pupils, and, 
he was proud to add, old friends. He could bear testimony to 
his private worth and honourable feelings, as they all could to his 
talent as a public teacher and a scientific and skilful practitioner. 
He thought that in the long-continued endeavours which had been 
made to obtain the Charter, they were greatly indebted to the 
teachers of our public schools for the kind and hearty assistance 
they had at all times rendered ; and in this respect, the gentlemen 
whose healths he proposed were also deserving their consideration, 
