VETERINARY REFORM. 
49 
asks of the first and last of us (according to the order of our 
names on the cover of our periodical), whether we mean to make 
application that our certificates shall be received at the Horse 
Guards on the same footing with those from the Veterinary Col¬ 
lege at St. Pancras. He does us the honour to say, that in his 
opinion “ if one school possesses this principle, it should be 
extended to ours,” and that “ reason and equity demand it;” 
“ but,” he adds, “ it is a bad principle that we are endeavouring 
to establish. It is totally inconsistent with the growing reputa¬ 
tion of our art. It is a bad principle that teachers should have 
any thing to do with the granting of diplomas ; for they are but 
men, and they are no more exempt from favouritism and preju¬ 
dice than others.” He then asks, “ could you obtain the appoint¬ 
ment of a certain number of veterinary surgeons, selected from the 
general body, with this proviso only, that they should be uncon¬ 
nected with any school, and who should constitute a board of ex¬ 
aminers, before whom students, in whatever school educated, 
should be required to appear prior to their commencement of 
practice?” This is signed by “ An old Practitioner;” and we 
know him to be so, and a good one too. 
Now we will gratify our old friend thus far :—we do assure 
him that, whatever we may or may not wish to be done, may have 
done, or mean to do, that which he has stated would be the very 
consummation of our desires. We will not repeat the arguments, 
so often stated in other volumes of our periodical, of the absurd 
constitution of the present examining committee ; but we will con¬ 
fess that the appointment, under the sanction of government, of a 
committee of veterinary surgeons in the north, and the south, and 
the sister kingdom, fairly chosen from the general body, and who 
should have power to regulate the nature of the previous educa¬ 
tion and preparation of the candidate, the length of time he 
should pass under the roof or immediate tuition of a practitioner, 
the nature and duration of his subsequent attendance on a public 
institution, the auxiliary sciences with which he should be more 
or less acquainted, and the form and extent of their own exami¬ 
nation of him ; and without a diploma from whom no person, 
from the date of their establishment, should be permitted to 
commence practice—to whom also should be delegated the 
power of prosecuting those who, without such authority,’ assumed 
the name or invaded the rights of veterinary surgeons;—we 
confess that this appears to us to include the sum and substance 
of veterinary reform; it embodies all that we can really want, 
or have any right to demand; it infringes on no just claim ; it 
2S fr ee from the possibility of objection. “ The old Practitioner” 
should see us foremost in accomplishing an object so desirable. 
VOL. VII. g 
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