REMARKS ON VETERINARY EXAMINATIONS. 
551 
College of Veterinary Surgeons. These gentlemen have done 
their duty most faithfully to the profession under the then existing 
state of matters, and therefore demand their best thanks. In con- 
stituting a Board of Examiners, however, it becomes an important 
question to consider, how far these should be made of members of 
the medical and the veterinary professions. From a careful con- 
sideration of all circumstances, it certainly does appear, that a 
mixed board is the most preferable ; but certainly the preponder- 
ance in numbers ought to be in favour of the veterinarians. The 
number of members constituting either board, or the method of 
arranging them when examining, is not within the scope of our 
present remarks. 
In selecting, however, these mixed boards, the Council of the 
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons ought strenuously to en- 
deavour, in respect to themselves, and as an act of simple 
justice to those that are to be examined, to select such gen- 
tlemen as they feel assured are capable of undertaking and 
fulfilling, to the utmost, the onerous and responsible duties im- 
posed on them. It is not enough that Dr. This, Surgeon That, 
or Veterinary Surgeon So-and-so, of the Guards, or any thing 
else, merely because he holds a certain rank or position, must 
be elected an examiner. Be they medical or veterinary, they 
ought to be known for their scientific and philosophical know- 
ledge, not only of human, but also of comparative anatomy and 
pathology ; for the student who is to undergo the ordeal of an exa- 
mination is fully entitled to know and to feel that he is to meet 
with those who can examine him, and honestly judge of him 
according to his merits. It is, indeed, too much for a veterinary 
student who has thoroughly and scientifically studied his profes- 
sion, to be expected to become a mechanical response to one who, 
perhaps, does not know the fundamental principles of the science 
he is inquiring about. That a knowledge of the principles of the 
English language is necessary need scarcely be enforced; for, 
though a smattering of professional information be possessed by the 
examiner, unless he is thoroughly conversant with the former, his 
questions will often be of the most peculiar kind. These may 
appear points of inquisitive importance ; but it is a fact not the 
less notorious, that examinations have been heard, and that not long 
ago, where, from a want of such qualifications on the part of the 
examiner, he was unable to concatenate so many words, in proper 
relation to each other, as would constitute a question ; and the 
student, unable to comprehend what was meant, could not but give 
an amusing reply. But in this instance who was to be smiled at 
— the student or the examiner ? 
It cannot, therefore, be too strongly urged on the attentive consi- 
