118 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
will feel displeased with him for having done so ; but rather, with 
us, will be proud to find we have a young man in our body of 
ability and courage sufficient to warn us of errors or misdoings 
whenever we may be found going astray. Manifesting considerable 
talent, well grounded in his education, and shewing promise of a 
most pleasing character in the profession he has chosen, Mr. 
Gamgee, last year, with much eclat passed the ordeal of that 
Board of the constitution and practices of which he is now pleased 
to find no little fault ; at the same time that he expresses dissatis- 
faction with the system of education as pursued at the Royal 
Veterinary College of which he was so lately an elcve. We do 
not say he has done all this without cause ; on the contrary, we 
believe in his own mind he has felt ample reason for so doing ; at 
the same time, we are bound to say he has done so without giving 
the subject full and sufficient consideration. 
In respect to the plan of examination of the veterinary pupil at 
present pursued, Mr. Gamgee complains of the limited time de- 
voted to each candidate ; of the insufficiency of the divisional part 
of that time to elicit or ascertain the acquirements of the pupil in 
any one department of medical science ; of the want of compre- 
hensiveness of the subjects of examination; and of the subject of 
the anatomy of the horse being entrusted exclusively to surgeons 
who are supposed to know nothing beyond the anatomy of man. 
Touching the shortness of the time — one hour — the candidate is 
actually under examination, the same 'opinion has oftentimes been 
expressed both in the council and board of examiners, as well as 
in places outside the College ; and we verily believe it is one that 
would, under circumstances different from those under which it is 
mooted, be listened to with attention ; but when we come to con- 
sider the general amount of knowledge possessed by the pupils who 
appear before that board, under the present status of veterinary 
education, we very much question whether one hour be not suf- 
ficient, considering how that hour is spent, to elicit the knowledge 
attained to a perfectly satisfactory extent. We are not saying 
that a quarter-of-an hour’s examination on anatomy and physiology 
is enough to search a man whose mind is largely furnished with 
those branches of knowledge. But are veterinary students taught 
or do they learn either minute anatomy or profound physiology 1 
And in regard to the diseases of the horse, or of cattle or sheep, are 
any one class of them, or are all of them put together, at all to be 
compared in number, complication, and importance with those 
attacking our own more tender and susceptible bodies ! But, setting 
aside the pupil for a moment, there is another party to be con- 
sidered in this matter — the examiner of the pupil. Suppose we 
were to grant two hours, in place of one, to the examination of the 
candidate ; the consequence must necessarily be, either that the 
examiner must work double the time for the same fee, or that the 
