128 
VETERINARY EDUCATION. 
If you would be regarded as a skilful, and esteemed as a hu¬ 
mane practitioner, and would have an internal and powerful 
motive to be indefatigable in the discharge of your professional 
duty, cultivate a spirit of humanity. The professional butcher 
is universally and deservedly execrated. 
You ask me what period of time you must allot to your at¬ 
tendance on the instructions and practice of the College. I 
apprehend it was designed, at the instUution of that Seminary, 
that the education of the Veterinary Pupil should occupy two 
years. In the French Colleges four years are devoted to this 
purpose. 
The res angiista domi of many students will not permit them 
to remain thus long; but the true interests of the pupil, and the 
respectability of the profession demand that the period of two 
years should not be very much curtailed. There is no royal 
road to learning. The age of miracles has long gone by, and I 
hold it to be impossible for any young man, in six or eight 
months, to acquire the habits and the knowledge requisite to 
make him a competent Veterinarian. 
You tell me that you will probably be able to remain 15 or 18 
months. I could have wished that the period might be extend¬ 
ed. These months, however, must be diligently and honestly 
employed. You have not one moment to lose. 
At once commence the close and anxious study of Anatomy. 
On this foundation, and on this alone, must your medical ac¬ 
quirements and future respectability be reared. How will you 
repair the machine unless you perfectly understand its con¬ 
struction ? There is scarcely a disease—there is certainly no 
operation—in which accurate anatomical knowledge will not 
only be useful but absolutely necessary. 
Be not content with a careless survey of the animal frame. 
Diligently, laboriously study minute Anatomy. 
It is true that a portion of this will soon be forgotten ; but 
that which is most imj)ortant to your fame and your success will 
remain. Enlarged and correct conceptions of the structure of 
the frame, and the function of the various organs, will be inde¬ 
libly engraven on the tablet of the memory. Some parts of the 
picture may wear away, but the grand outline will never be 
effaced. The steps by which we ascended the eminence of 
science may not be remembered, but the extensive boundless 
prospect will continue to greet our view. 
You have two excellent books to guide your studies, Blaine 
and Percivall. I will not discuss their comparative merits. 
You may safely follow^ them both, and neither can be spared. 
Begin with the Skeleton. If you cannot obtain access to 
