INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
607 
during my years of experience here, that while low habits 
wreck a portion of men born for better things, the wind 
of foppery blows away another and a lighter portion of 
our audiences, and carries them where success is no longer 
to be reached. The professional gentleman , I may remark, 
is a reasonable mean between unreasonable extremes. You 
have to be veterinary gentlemen, and that collocation of 
terms involves much. It means that you are not to 
be below your calling ; and it also means that you are 
not to be in anything above it. There is not as yet that 
appreciation of our profession in high quarters that will be 
likely to make any of you into knights, or sprigs of 
aristocracy; and I implore you to get no tailor to attempt the 
transformation. Avoid this, as you would the loose-breeched, 
tight-kneed trappings of the groom. Aim to be plainly 
dressed professional gentlemen, and you will hit the mark. 
Ape dandies and grooms, and you will be despised by all well- 
thinking men. Eschew extravagant habits while you are 
here, and you will avoid worse temptations in after-life. As 
veterinary surgeons, we are none of us likely to amass great 
fortunes ; but then diligence and conscientiousness will be sure 
to provide us with a competence, and crown our laborious days 
with satisfaction. Do not therefore begin your duties of life 
as if you were going to be great people, and to take the 
country by storm. No such destiny awaits you. Your 
safest standing is a professional one. Wrap yourselves 
around in the real dignity of science, and you will be equi- 
distant from the nobleman and his groom, and equally looked 
up to, in your own department, by both. 
Hitherto I have dwelt upon your increasing respon- 
sibilities, but I should fall short of my duty if I did not 
admit of the existence of responsibilities on our part wdiich 
are due to you and the profession. As teachers we have 
to afford you every assistance which is compatible with 
our position and duties. We owe it to you to be the 
friends of your progress and your learning, and the aiders 
and abettors of all your good habits. It is only by this 
mutuality being preserved, that a profession which depends 
mainly upon the individual worth of its members, and upon 
public opinion, can be built up as a lasting body ; and there- 
fore we shall endeavour to do our part as earnestly as we 
entreat you to do yours. 
Come to us as friends when any difficulty arises in your 
studies. Consult us if your pathway seems darker than it 
should be, and the light of science which by our more pro- 
longed experience we have gained shall be at your service. 
Give us the opportunity of slender dimensions enlarging ou 
