ON EXAMINATIONS FOLl A VETERINARY DIPLOMA. 81 
medicine be cordially united, in order that the latter may continue 
to derive from the former renewed supplies of that scientific know- 
ledge which has so materially contributed to raise veterinary sur- 
geons to their present position, and which veterinary students 
must seek after, if in future life they be desirous of gaining honour- 
able repute and benefiting mankind. 
I have been thus prolix with reference to anatomy and physio- 
logy, because these foundations of a veterinary medical education 
have been well nigh totally neglected ; and I beg respectfully to 
urge upon the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons 
the necessity of making, for the future, such arrangements in the 
system of examination as may obviate the danger, not only of 
pupils, but perhaps even of teachers, treating those departments of 
science lightly, because the candidate for examination is not tested 
on them before he is granted a legalized diploma. 
To chemistry, materia medica, and pharmacy, is devoted another 
quarter of the hour appointed for the examination. With due 
deference to the eminent men who are examiners in those sciences, 
the practical value of the examination appears doubtful. The ma- 
jority of the questions are on chemistry : in pharmacy only such 
points as the preparation of calomel or tartarized antimony are 
touched upon ; and in materia medica, as applicable to the horse, 
the pupil’s knowledge is seldom, if ever, tested. I am here pre- 
pared to meet the objection that, even in the quarter of an hour 
appointed, the pupils by no means give evidence of proficiency in 
chemical science, and that a prolongation of the time would only 
demonstrate deficiency to a greater extent. This probably may de- 
pend on the system of instruction. Chemistry, materia medica, and 
pharmacy, are professed at St. Pancras by a teacher who delivers 
three lectures weekly, viz., at utmost, seventy-two lectures in the 
whole session. In such limited time, it is impossible to impress the 
principles of those sciences on the pupil’s mind with any degree of 
advantage. In expressing this conviction, I am not unmindful of 
the fact, that to the present teacher in these departments at St. 
Pancras is due the merit of having first established lectures on 
those sciences in the veterinary schools of Great Britain. But 
while we are grateful for the past, we are nevertheless anxious for 
the future. The instruction imparted ten years since is not suffi- 
cient at the present day in any branch of science, but especially in 
chemistry, which has surpassed all other branches of human know- 
ledge in the rate of its progress. Moreover, it is not unreasonable 
to presume that any limited system of instruction which might have 
been admissible when chemistry and pharmacy were first professed 
in a veterinary school, should be improved and extended as expe- 
rience and necessity dictate. 
