ANNUAL DINNER. 
161 
the duty of maintaining the respectability of a rising profession, 
the responsibility they would incur if it was degraded by their 
inconsiderateness and folly; he advised them sedulously to 
cultivate the society of those who were once considered far above 
them, but with whom they might now mingle; and he spoke of 
the contempt with which they would be overwhelmed, if, by de¬ 
grading habits and associations, they compromised the interests of 
that profession to which they belonged. “ Yet,” said he, “ we 
must not quite forget the humble farrier, from whom we may be 
said to have sprung, and who is often possessed of much practical 
knowledge, and who is a valuable member of that class of society to 
which he has been accustomed to belong. Our recollections and 
feelings need not quite pass away, while the new ones which now 
legitimately belong to us should be permitted to exert their in¬ 
fluence upon us.” 
We will not ask how consistent all this may be with certain 
comparisons that used to be drawn, and certain condemnations that 
were wont to be passed in another place ; but we will say that such 
sentiments do honour to the instructor of the veterinary pupil, 
and ought to be engraven in indelible characters on the mind of 
every student. 
Although there did seem to be an unusual formality about the 
meeting, a consciousness of something a little out of joint, a 
dread of something which possibly had no existence save in 
the imagination, yet it had its redeeming qualities, and the last 
two circumstances particularly give it peculiar interest and im¬ 
portance ; and if such be the sentiments elicited, although tardily 
so, and if they be the harbingers of corresponding management 
and action, why these meetings will be what they should be,—plea¬ 
sant at the moment, when conviviality, and friendly feeling, and 
enjoyment prevail, and more pleasant when recalled to memory, 
because they have been associated with the best interests of the 
profession to which it is our pride to belong. 
Y. 
VOL. VII. 
V 
