REPORTER FOR THE PRESS. 
683 
general application, gain a particular force. The gentleman who 
is there appointed to instruct is not selected for such a situation 
because of his reputation, nor chosen on account of his ability. 
He is subjected to no examination, exposed to no test. He has as 
a teacher no trial to undergo, and no station to maintain. He is 
thrust into the school, and he is obliged to lecture merely to save 
the pocket of the management. His security in the situation de- 
pends solely upon his pleasing the subscribers who send their ani- 
mals to the infirmary ; and, therefore, it is not surprising if, in the 
lectures, “ tact of practice ” is often dwelt upon with emphasis, and 
soundness of principle sometimes sneered at as a delusion. No 
report is made of what is taught. No minute is kept of the pro- 
ceedings. The teacher is left without supervision, and free from 
the slightest sense of control. He may inculcate what he chooses, 
and assert what he likes, for he is exposed to no authority. The 
Governors view the school only as means of payment for the 
practitioners whom the nature of the Institution obliges them to 
employ. The class may murmur; the pupils may be dissatisfied; 
the teaching may be false ; and the teacher may be incapable ; 
but therefore no change would result. The man who can manage 
to mumble for a time — though he has but the previous hour feebly 
endeavoured to learn the lesson he then presumes to teach, and 
in every sentence he utters is guilty of an error — may, neverthe- 
less, continue to bear the title of “ Professor,” and, to the world, 
appear as the Master of the veterinary art ! 
Consequently, even if the Professors at Colleges had not been 
liable to publicity, the teachers at the Saint Pancras Institution 
should be subjected to it. It can, under the circumstances, afford 
the only security to the interest by which the place is supported. 
It can, to the parents and friends of the young men who pay to be 
instructed, give the only assurance that the purpose is observed. 
It can, to the public offer the only certainty that those emanating 
from a so-styled College are worthy of the confidence which their 
word is calculated to create. Without such security, assurance, 
and certainty, the place may be courteously termed a “ College,” 
and politely recognised as a “ School ;” but there is too great a 
possibility of its being an obstacle to the advancement of our pro- 
fession, a means of deception upon a class, and a source of imposi- 
tion upon the public. All and every one directly or remotely 
concerned in the progress of veterinary science must, therefore, 
deeply feel the arrogance which refused to submit to opinion, 
and by the act confessed a fear which honourable natures would 
disown. 
For the talent, the propriety, or the moral conduct of those con- 
nected with the Saint Pancras School, publicity in the only safe- 
