EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
735 
all its deserving members that status which they have a 
right to claim as a scientific body. The parallel which Mr. 
Fleming also attempts to draw between “ the Edinburgh 
Veterinary College/ 5 and “the Royal Veterinary College of 
London/ 5 has in reality no existence, for the latter named 
institution grants no certificate setting forth the acquirements 
or successful examination of the pupil ; and it has ever felt, 
since the obtainment of the charter of incorporation, that it 
best consulted its own dignity, as well as the interests of the 
profession, by acting in full accordance with the legal 
enactments of the charter. 
Will any professional friend take this question up, and 
endeavour, through our journal, to effect a unity of action 
between the contending interests, based on a determination 
to advance the cause of Veterinary Science ? We are not 
without hope of the ultimate success of this labour, which 
has our most ardent wishes for its realization ; for we re- 
gard the present state of things, not only as a great, but an 
increasing evil, and one fraught with the most serious danger 
to the very existence of the profession, as an incorporated 
body of practical utility. 
APPOINTMENT OP A NEW EXAMINER. 
It is not at all times, as journalists, that we can express the 
accordance of our sentiments with the proceedings of the Coun- 
cil of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Indeed, we 
have sometimes been accused of undue severity in the criti- 
cisms which we have felt to be incumbent upon us to pass on 
their public acts. But surely no fault ought to attach to the 
candid expression of opinions on such a subject as this, 
when it is remembered that the Council, as the represen- 
tative of the profession, is invested with full power to legis- 
late for the weal or the woe of the body corporate, and there- 
fore it requires to be watched with a jealous care. It has, 
however, just taken a step which will tend to give its execu- 
tive court of examiners an increased importance in public 
