INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
679 
that ordinary education which a gentleman is supposed to 
have obtained. Next, there is proficiency in his profession ; 
and thirdly, there are those constitutional qualities which are 
eminently and beyond all others important in the composi- 
tion of an officer.” The same requisites, we hold, are neces- 
sary for the educated veterinary surgeon ; and possessing 
these we ask no more. Besides this, it should be borne in 
mind that scientific acquirements are not now confined to 
those who may be said to belong to the professions. Many 
of the nobility are tinctured with a love of science, which is 
shown by several of them taking a prominent part in promul- 
gating its principles, even as they operate in the every-day 
affairs of life, by lecturing on these subjects to the masses. 
Recently, too, the Society of Arts has instituted examina- 
tions into the efficiency of Mechanics’ Institutes, and given 
prizes to several of their members for proficiencyin Chemistry, 
Geography, English History, Mathematics, &c., the reci- 
pients being, according to Dr. Booth, shop-keepers’ boys, 
schoolmasters’ assistants, merchants’ clerks, and appren- 
tices; young men engaged from morning till evening in the 
discharge of those duties on which depends their daily bread. 
The present century may also be said to have witnessed the 
introduction of most of the Scientific Societies. Of these 
the Royal Institution of Great Britain took the lead, thus 
rendering science fashionable. To this succeeded Mechanics’ 
and other associations, and those have caused it to be popular. 
Nor can the impetus thus given to knowledge be easily 
checked, or with impunity. We must go on to know, for it 
has been well remarked that, “ in these better times men can- 
not creditably remain ignorant of the first principles of those 
practical sciences which are used in the arts of life, or con- 
tinue uninformed of the phenomena of the w r orld, the systems 
of distant nebulae, the infusorial life contained in a drop of 
water, or the laws which regulate our physical existence 
while on this earth, at once our palace and our prison- 
house.” It is thus the right man will get the right place, 
and he alone will obtain it who has made himself conversant 
with the principles of his avocation. Seeing, then, that the 
peculiar character of the age is marked by onward progress, 
and that this is the result of education, what must be the 
inevitable consequence should we not continue to advance? 
Simply this, we shall be compressed between two forces ; 
become “ crumpled up,” to use a familiar phrase. Be 
it yours, then, to guard against this by a proper employment 
of your time. Regard these opportunities for acquiring 
knowledge as “ the pearls of time spangled with the dew T s of 
