INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
625 
an examination for your diploma. The professors of this 
institution will ascertain by their examination of you whether 
you have a fair title to present yourselves or not before the 
examining body. Thus you will have virtually two exami- 
nations to undergo. In this respect we are following the 
same course which the spirit of the age has already dictated 
to the medical profession, in the various bodies of which 
there are several examinations, and candidates can take 
different degrees of rank or honour. 
At present we have only one degree, but it would not sur- 
prise me if there should be a creation of a second order of 
merit, somewhat corresponding to that which exists in the 
College of Surgeons, between Members and Fellows. The 
necessity of the times, the awakened competition of all classes, 
the strokes of an ever busy industry throbbing in the heart 
of the country, the increased strain put upon all bodies of 
men, as well as upon each individual, — these are our excuses, 
if excuse were needed, for demanding more of you than we 
could reasonably ask of your predecessors. We are all of us 
linked to the car of a progressive science and civilization ; 
and the velocity of 1855 is necessarily greater than that 
which existed only ten years since. 
You will do well to remember, that in the course which 
you have to run, you must take good heed to one of the 
essential conditions of successful racing. You must not 
carry about you any great weights. Bad habits of all kinds 
are tremendous weights in the prosecution of any calling, 
and you will have no good speed if these press you down. 
Intemperance, immorality, and the association with low 
company, have been the bane of many a young man who 
began with the fairest prospects, and who might have trodden 
the path of honour and distinction. The dignity of our 
profession depends entirely upon the good character of its 
members. Unlike lawyers, you are not gentlemen by Act of 
Parliament, but you are gentlemen when you earn the title 
by the free voice of your clients and your country. You 
must therefore be the architects of your own honour and 
good fortune ; and you will find that temperance, good 
conduct, and gentlemanly bearing, are the very foundations 
of that edifice you are desirous to rear. 
I speak to you on these matters as not ignorant of your 
wants. Long experience, and an intimate acquaintance with 
the excellences and the frailties of many of your prede- 
cessors, have given me the privilege of addressing you freely, 
but in a most friendly spirit. As one of the representatives 
of your little state, I think I understand pretty well the 
