207 
THE VETERINARY BOARDS OF EXAMINATION. 
To the Editor of “ The Veterinarian .” 
Sir, — A t last has the bubble burst, and vapour and froth would 
be in the ascendant. The “ new charter” — the work of “ ail the 
talents” — is so far from being attained by its concoctors, that they 
have no means of getting out of the scrape into which their reck- 
lessness has thrown them, but by setting up an examining board 
of their own, under the old system and management : in other 
words, that they may manufacture veterinary surgeons in their 
own way, hide their own ignorance and incapability as teachers, 
and inundate the kingdom with incompetent persons, to the injury 
of every party, the profession, and the public. 
For months the cry has been, “ we are certain to have a charter 
of our own ;” but, alas for the vain-glorious! the vaunt has come 
to naught, or why is there to be established a board, whose acts 
will be null and void, whose existence has arisen at the dictation 
of some half-dozen or so, whose power is self-assumed, and sup- 
ported by egotism and bombast. 
But a word on these boards of examination. Of whom are 
they to be composed? Can any man be found so lost to all 
honourable feeling as to occupy the position of being a sanctioner 
of quackery, of delusion ? No man who has a particle of character 
to lose can do so. What kind of instruction is to be meted out, 
and what is to be the standard of knowledge to enable a candidate 
to appear before such a board, and possess himself of such a value- 
less document ? It cannot be high, when — if Rumour does not 
lie — one who is incapable of writing his own name may probably 
be a candidate ; for regulations can only be made equal to the ca- 
pacities of the smallest. What is or can be the position of such 
parties who are so unfortunate as to be deluded into an appearance 
before them ? 
The answer is simple enough. They will rank only as farriers, 
cowleeches, or any other class of a similar character ; the docu- 
ment for which they are foolish enough to pay will not confer re- 
spectability, nor give any position or rank whatsoever ; nor will 
they ever take any other rank than with the quacks, and which, to 
their cost, they will regret as long as they live. 
I am well aware that the hope has been held out, that the cer- 
tificate of these to-be-formed boards of examiners will be equiva- 
lent in value to that of the chartered board, both as regards the 
body corporate, as well as the appointments of veterinary sur- 
geons in the army ; but a greater delusion was never attempted, 
