662 PRESENT STATE OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
will, at a glance, detect the opinion of the matured scientific 
practitioner from the mere tyro ; or even where men of the same 
standing and acquirements offer opposite opinions on the same 
subjects, he will be able to appreciate the many (to the public in 
general inexplicable) reasons that have induced this contrariety, 
without deteriorating in the least from the professional reputa- 
tion of either. Again : he would be a more lenient critic on the 
observations of all parties than the many-headed public. It is 
worthy of consideration, also, that the speaker on these occasions 
is not at all times prepared to make his observations in quite the 
style, or in the words, in which he would choose to offer his opi- 
nions to the public generally ; and I am convinced that this cir- 
cumstance alone could very materially narrow the efficiency and 
value of the Society, considered in reference to the veterinary 
profession. 
Another reason which has great weight with me is, that I do 
not think it possible that the publication of the proceedings of a 
society of this kind (in which every member ought plainly to 
speak his opinion on every subject on which he enters, however 
it may be in collision with that of others) can tend to raise the 
character of our profession in the same degree which The Ve- 
terinarian on its own standing has done, and will continue to 
do. I have often read some of the remarks made in the discus- 
sions of the Society with a mixture of pleasure and pain. I have 
been pleased to see that some have ventured questions and opi- 
nions with a view, doubtless, of gaining instruction simply ; but 
1 have been pained to think that many might be apt to consider 
them the matured opinions of men professing our noble art. 
Again, the writer to The Veterinarian has generally time 
to give his remarks the benefit of a careful reconsideration ; and, if 
he chooses in that work to enter into discussion on any doubtful 
or disputed point, he does it with the certain knowledge that he 
has thrown down the gauntlet before the whole profession, and he 
ought to be prepared to play his part in the fight gallantly ; but 
an observation might be hazarded at a meeting of the Society 
which the speaker might afterwards wish to modify or recall, with- 
out the chance of doing so. 
You are, Sir, as you are well aware, an entire stranger to me 
personally. I know you only as the Editor of The Veterina- 
rian, and in that capacity I beg leave thus publicly to offer you 
my sincere thanks for the manly and straightforward way in 
which you have hitherto conducted that Journal. I am con- 
vinced that you need not despair of being always surrounded by 
a host of contributors, who will not only support your work, but 
in a way that will place the veterinary profession, in the eyes of 
