THE ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
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illustration. It is by no means pleasant to make confessions of 
this kind ; but, rather than seek the proof at another’s expense, I 
advance the statement. When I started in practice, it was my 
fortune to have many dogs brought to me for treatment. I strictly 
followed the College method in the measures I adopted. The 
animals died. The agents I had been taught to rely upon were 
either inoperative or injurious. There are many gentlemen can 
speak to the effect the result produced upon my mind. I actually 
thought of resigning my profession. At length, in desperation, I 
cast from me all that I had learned. Consulting books and study- 
ing principles, I began upon a new plan entirely. Let the result 
tell how much of error I discarded. During the last six months, 
but two of these animals have died under my care. One had 
chronic ulceration of the duodenum opening into the abdominal 
cavity, and was under my charge but forty hours. The other 
died of hydrothorax, after it had been in my custody but an hour 
and a half; having, for a fortnight previous, shewn symptoms of 
disease. 
The foregoing may read harsh : some even may think the 
statement has been heightened. Those, however, who are ac- 
quainted with the facts, will know that not a tithe of the truth has 
been alluded to. The corruption of years is not to be contained 
in a few pages. The system is bad, and, of course, evil has grown 
up under it. The Professors are not wholly to blame. Perhaps 
they are to be pitied. They have been placed in false positions : 
it could be pleaded in their behalf, that they have been surrounded 
by abuses which existed before they took office. I regret only 
that gentlemen in such a situation should have been blind to the 
evil in which they moved. 
The governors are not to be reproached. They are gentlemen ; 
and however unfortunate may be their acts, their motives, at all 
events, are not to be suspected. They mean well, but they are 
misled. They are mistaken. They are ignorant of the facts. 
Still I lament that a body so well intentioned, and so honourable, 
should have been induced to join in a public movement before they 
had taken some pains to ascertain the circumstances of the case. 
The school being paid for all it gives, can advance no higher 
claims than what every tradesman could adduce. The existence 
of a paying speculation establishes no right on which to address 
the state, asking for extraordinary and unprecedented powers. On 
the score of benefits conferred, nothing can be urged. On the 
ground of injury inflicted, something on the other side might be 
insisted on. The school, however, under the charter has improved. 
That improvement should not be regarded as a wrong. The Pro- 
fessors ought not to feel that progression is an injury. What 
