ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 335 
Mr. Ferguson was prepared to contend that, by the ordinary 
rules of logic, if the Charter gave the Council the power to exa- 
mine on whatever point or subject they pleased, it gave them a 
right to regulate the curriculum of study. The pupils had not, he 
would contend, education enough. It was much more difficult to 
make a diagnosis in a veterinary case than it was for sur- 
geons, as the patient in one case could be spoken with, in the 
other he could not. He would also contend, that, in order to be 
able properly to treat the diseases of animals, the pupils ought to 
be made acquainted with the elements of therapeutics. They 
were never taught botany ; but he thought that science ought to be 
an adjunct to the system of study. Then, again, he thought that 
the period of study ought to be extended. Now there were only 
two sessions during a period of about fifteen months, and it was, 
he would contend, impossible to master all the subjects in two 
sessions. That was, he believed, the great cause of the contempt 
which was shewn by the medical profession to the veterinary 
surgeons. He meant the inequality of education. The system 
was quite different in foreign colleges. There, pupils had to 
undergo a certain system of education before they were qualified 
to be admitted as students ; and at the Brussels, Lyons, and St. 
Petersburgh Colleges, and at others, the period of study was four 
years, while in this country it was not two years. He thought, 
therefore, that the period ought to be enlarged, as well as the 
subjects for study. 
Mr. Cherry, in reply, alluded to the speech of Mr. Mayhew, 
who, he said, was a most excellent declaimer ; but he thought that 
that gentleman ought not to have fixed upon one member of the 
Council, but upon all. All those ren\arks were, however, extraneous 
to the motion he (Mr. Cherry) had proposed, and he would not, 
therefore, go further into them. He would also pass over all that 
had been said on the subject of the amendment as irrelevant ; but 
he would defend his conduct at the meeting of the Council alluded 
to by the Secretary. The reason why he did not second the mo- 
tion for the alteration of certain portions of the Report was, that 
he was not, at that time, sufficiently acquainted with the facts on 
which that Report was drawn up, although he held his hand up 
against the passing of the Report. There were eight persons pre- 
sent besides the President, and five were for the Report being 
passed, and three against it ; but the feeling of the Secretary was 
evident from what he had said. In conclusion, he would only 
further observe, that the whole of the remarks that had been made 
by the members during the discussion had fully borne out the 
necessity for the passing of the resolution he had proposed. 
