396 ON THE PRESENT STATE OF VETERINARY AFFAIRS. 
has it ; but this, Sirs, is a breach of good maimers and good sense 
altogether unparalleled. If it could be proved to the satisfaction 
of the public, that there are no non-diplomatists (as they are 
called), or, at most, but very few in the profession, competent to 
engage in veterinary practice with credit to themselves, or with 
the high opinion and general approval of their employers, then 
there might be some appearance of plausibility in the avowed ends 
of the Memorialists : but this is not the case. To say that it is, is 
nothing less than a flagrant aspersion on the respectability, edu- 
cation, and professional talents of hundreds of practitioners in 
different parts of the country. It is a fact, very easily ascer- 
tained, that in almost every county or district, agricultural or 
commercial, the non-diplomatists take the lead and get the 
most business ; and why ? I answer, because they know the 
most, they cure their patients much quicker, and are far better 
acquainted with the pathology of the horse and cattle than the 
College graduate is. As for the latter being able to gabble or 
prattle over a few cant technicalities in anatomy and physiology, 
that is but a trumpery recommendation for a veterinary sur- 
geon. Why, Sirs, a sharp lass about 14 or 15 years old, in any 
common placed female academy, might be made to do that in 
six months. The fact. Sirs, is this, any of our employers of but 
ordinary discernment is disgusted with such doggrel nonsense. 
All that they require of us is a good common sense rationale 
of the disease, and a plain, straightforward, and successful plan of 
removing it. All the rest with them is but leather and prunella. 
When I assert that the College graduates are not any thing near on 
a par with the old practitioner, I would not be understood to in- 
clude every St. Pancras veterinary surgeon. No! I allow that 
some of them are sound practical men, and understand their profes- 
sion extremely w ell ; but no thanks are due to that “ stupid Vete- 
rinary College,” as Mr. Bracy Clark terms it (for this quotation, see 
November number of The Veterinarian for 1838, page 593). 
If their veterinary knowledge is superior to their other graduated 
brethren in the trade, they owe it to the instructions of their 
parents, or their masters, who were members of the “ old school 
who were men of great abilities, extensive practice, and conside- 
rable experience, although their name is now despised by the 
modernized smatterers who have succeeded them. I know at 
this present time of several very respectable veterinary establish- 
ments, conducted by wtt-certificated practitioners, where anatomy 
is minutely taught, instructions in physiology extensively given, 
and the pathology of all domesticated animals freely and scienti- 
fically imparted to students committed to their care— a proof 
this (I presume) that diplomas are not always swallowed down 
by John Bull without any reserve. As for the prohibition 
