THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XXVIII, 
No. 335. 
NOVEMBER, 1855. 
Fourth Series, 
No. 11. 
THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 
Delivered by Professor Spooner, 
At the Royal Veterinary Colleye y London . 
Session 1855-56. 
Gentlemen, — It is often said, that “ there is nothing so 
difficult as a beginning;” and true it is, that each commence- 
ment of a course of duties has difficulties which are peculiar to 
itself. An introductory address, preparatory to the labours of 
a new session, reminds me forcibly of this proverb, and brings 
to my apprehension an amount of responsibility which is 
shared pretty equally between you and myself. To many of 
you, the position in which you now stand is altogether a new 
one. You are for the first time embarked in studies which 
doubtless look formidable enough to you, and fill you with 
fears as to the future. You have quitted your homes to 
commit yourselves to a stream which, in a year or two, will 
conduct you on into the great ocean of life. All is novel to 
you. A strictness of application, so as to acquire proficiency, 
is demanded of you, and to which, hitherto, you have possibly 
been strangers ; but which, it is very certain, the world, if 
you are to do any good in it, will most rigorously exact from 
you. To a certain extent, also, you are left to yourselves, 
having a degree of personal freedom such as you have never 
probably before enjoyed, and this too amid the bustle and 
temptations of this vast metropolis. These are some 
of your difficulties ; and I cannot doubt that the first day of 
the session brings them, in a concentrated form, to your 
minds ; and that, although the prospects of this day be 
bright with novelty and hopes, there yet lurks a certain 
undefinable feeling of anxiety and uncertainty, within you. 
xxviii. 79 
