THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XIV, No. 167.] NOVEMBER 1841. [New Series, No. 107. 
ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE VETERINARY 
PROFESSION. 
By Mr. E. Friend, V. S., Walsall. 
My dear Sir, — I HAVE watched with considerable interest the 
opinions recorded in the few last Numbers of The Veterina- 
rian, and I have held my mind during that time perfectly open 
to conviction ; but I must confess, that nothing l have yet seen 
has altered the opinion I at first formed, on the controverted sub- 
ject of the union of the Proceedings of the Medical Society with 
The Veterinarian as a work of practical utility to the vete- 
rinary profession. 
My decided opinion is, that the Society’s Proceedings ought 
to be published separately, and for the use only of veterinary 
surgeons. I have two or three reasons for this. In the first 
place, the Society’s debates should include the opinions of both 
practitioners and students. I would have the student en- 
couraged, by all means, to state his opinions on these occasions ; 
and it matters not at all that these opinions may be incorrect. 
When there is a proper amalgamation of the practical man with 
the learner, the error will be pointed out, the student will be con- 
vinced, and in a way that will sink deeper into his mind, and be 
more beneficial to him than, perhaps, any other way of acquiring 
the same information. 
Discussion almost necessarily implies contrariety of opinion, 
and from the proper expression of this truth ought to be elicited. 
Now, let us look at the different effect produced by this in 
being thrown open to the world or confined to the profession. 
The world would be apt to think that this contrariety of opinion 
resulted from the fact, that we had no firm basis on which our 
superstructure is raised, and that our science is only the result of 
an arbitrary decision in the mind of each individual member. 
The educated veterinary surgeon, on the contrary, who reads the 
discussion, will be able to separate the wheat from the chaff ; he 
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