86 
VETERINARY EDUCATION. 
attention as to what may have been his previous pursuits ; however 
at variance they may have been with that general knowledge of 
animals, and their habits, without which the knowledge requisite 
to their treatment in disease is with difficulty acquired, and the 
requisite tact, so essential to skilful manipulations, never becomes 
perfectly attained. 
In the original laws of that Institution, it is clearly manifest that 
particular attention was paid to this subject. It is not requisite to 
enter into a history of the causes which have led to a neglect of the 
original laws ; but I would draw attention to the fact, that, while all 
other branches of science, during the last fifty years, have become 
more and more strict in the requisite qualifications, and have been 
enlarging their curriculum of study, the veterinary schools have not 
only ceased to advance, but actually have been retrograding. It is 
true that recently a slight improvement has taken place ; but still 
our Institution is far behind what it was originally intended to have 
been by its founders. 
If, like the human branch of medicine, we were possessed of the 
advantages of large hospitals, infirmaries, or dispensaries, in which 
the ravages of disease might be largely noted, then an apprentice- 
ship might be of little or no value ; but with us it is different. We 
possess nothing of the kind, nor is it probable we ever shall have ; 
hence, what may be valueless to the medical profession becomes 
to us of paramount importance. 
The simple dressing of a foot or a wound, the administering of 
a dose of medicine, are common-place duties that may be easily ac- 
quired ; but the patience, the tact, the capability of making avail- 
able all or every resource that may be within reach in cases of 
emergency, can alone be acquired by long, careful, and judicious 
training. Hence, the necessity of an apprenticeship is, with those 
best acquainted with the subject, looked upon as imperative ; not 
because they approve of apprenticeship simply, but from there 
being no substitute for it. 
With these simple facts before us, it cannot but strike every one 
who may take the trouble to reflect, how strange it is that those who 
have the management of our only English veterinary school should 
so long and so virulently oppose its introduction, by throwing every 
impediment in the way : by admitting, as pupils, those whose pur- 
suits have been at total variance with the knowledge of animals, 
and classing them with those who have been previously properly 
trained; requiring no longer attendance from one than from the 
other, or giving one class more instruction than the other, but sub- 
mitting them to the same ordeal as those who had devoted years 
to the acquirement of the principles of their art, and launching the 
trained and untrained upon the public as equal in capability. 
