482 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH 
From Mr. J. D. H arrison, F.S., London. 
If there ever was a time when unity among the members of 
the veterinary profession was praiseworthy, desirable, and most 
to be coveted, it is surely at the present moment, when all are 
anxiously looking for, and very many of its best and most zealous 
practitioners actively engaged in the common cause of endeavour- 
ing to procure us, as a body, that rank and standing in society 
that we ought long ago to have possessed, the want of which all 
have individually felt and most sincerely deplored — the attain- 
ment of which will place the rights and character of the veterinary 
surgeon on a firmer basis — will give him that protection in his 
professional career which I say (and I speak it without egot- 
ism) he is, from education and previous habits, equitably and 
lawfully entitled to ; which veterinary science is truly deserving 
of, and is now proudly aspiring to obtain. Shall it, then, be 
said, and blazoned forth to the world, that, even during the time 
this grand project is in agitation, its members are not true to the 
profession and themselves ; but that they degrade themselves by 
allowing the paltry thought of exclusiveness seriously to occupy 
their thoughts ; or, what is still worse, can or will the members 
of the Veterinary Medical Association still persist in, and actually 
endeavour to put in practice, what in broad and plain terms they 
have asserted ? No, no; I cannot think so meanly of its mem- 
bers, as even, for a moment, to suppose they can in reality seri- 
ously intend to persevere in such an unprecedented act ; for they 
may be assured that this is not the time for such a procedure 
let the profession be wdiat it will. 
Our claims will, no doubt, ere long be brought before the tri- 
bunal of a British Parliament, composed, as we know full well, 
not of a few persons who are our compeers in the science we pro- 
fess, but of noblemen and gentlemen, who, as agriculturists, feel 
and acknowledge equally with ourselves the necessity and just- 
ness of our claims, and who are able and willing to assist in the 
procuration of that which we all most ardently desire : but can 
we expect they will exert their interests and abilities in our behalf, 
when they find discord, envy, dissension, and illiberality, where 
all ought to be unity, peace, and good will ? On the contrary, will 
they not, on perceiving such a spirit existing amongst the mem- 
bers of the profession, rather withdraw themselves and their in- 
terests from our cause, and thus leave us grappling with a shadow, 
when, in all human probability, we might have gained the sub- 
stance ? 
In the expressed wish of many members of the Association 
