LETTER TO SIR ASTLEY COOPER. 
319 
one of the present medical committee, and highly as I esteem you 
and several others whose acquaintance I am honoured with, I 
would rather sweep the cross-way in Regent Street, or scour the 
brass knocker on your door, than so mentally degrade myself and 
belie my understanding, as to be guilty of an act that would give 
the public reason to believe that you, who had been all your life¬ 
time in attendance on man, could possibly know more of my own 
profession than myself, who had been all my lifetime in attendance 
on the horse. 
This leads me to put a question, which, like many others, is 
very easily put, but not very easily answered; and that is, pray, 
Sir. Astley, what do you conceive the quantum and nature of the 
veterinary knowledge possessed (not by yourself exclusively) but 
by any or every one of the present medical committee ? Do you 
suppose that either Drs. Babington or Pearson, Messrs. Brodie or 
Bell, could stand the test of examination himself, merely in the os¬ 
teology of the horse ? I really doubt whether any one of them 
could give me a proper account of the bones of the skeleton! 
And as for the peculiar mechanism and physiology of many 
of the joints, why, it is information they could obtain only imper¬ 
fectly either from dissection or reading, and therefore what no one 
believes they can possess. In general physiology they would find 
themselves more at home;’’ but then, what does physiology 
lead to ? What ought the examiner to have constantly in his view 
while conducting his inquiries in this department? Why, pathology. 
•And what is the sum of your medical examiner’s knowledge in 
this, the focus of all medical acquirements ? What does it amount 
to? To—to—to worse than nothing; to misconception and 
error. If not to want of theoiy, to want of practice; and, worse 
than both, to want of that faithful teacher and unerring guide, ex¬ 
perience. Such are the qualifications of the individuals who reject 
us as unfit, and erect themselves into the situations of examiners, 
and unhesitatingly decide on the acquirements of those who are 
to be launched forth into the world with diplomas in their pockets, 
certifying that they are qualified to pr'actise the veterinary art 
in all its branches!’^ 
. Having gone thus far, it seems but fair to give place to the op¬ 
posite party; or rather to state the reasons advanced by those in 
place, why they should exclusively continue there. First, then, 
it is said, that, being such eminent medical characters, even their 
•names are of great importance to us, and necessarily and greatly 
enhance the value of our diploma. If what I have already ad¬ 
vanced be correct, that most persons would trust their sick horses 
to their grooms, or even themselves prescribe for them, rather than 
send for the family surgeon (indeed, that is quite ridiculous; a 
