454 
LETIEK TO SIR ASTLEY COOPER. 
• In the course of the conversations which I have had from 
time to time with those who have been concerned, and I feel I 
may add, principally interested, in this exclusion,^’ I have had 
it put to me,—what interest the medical members of the committee 
could possibly have in taking upon themselves the trouble and 
responsibility of such an office, other than that which tended to 
the general good of the veterinary profession ? Surely,” said 
one advocate, you cannot for a moment suppose that the fee 
paid for the diploma is a consideration: and the'name of a 
veterinary examiner confers no honour upon surgeons so eminent 
as these are in their own profession. What other motive, then, 
can any one conceive such men to have, in either accepting, or 
retaining their places, than your professional advantage ? ” My 
adversary, in this instance, has intrenched himself in such a for¬ 
midable position, that, were the ground sound upon which he 
stood, I should begin to despair of victory; the ground, however, 
is rotten—so rotten, that it will not even bear being turned up for 
examination. 
I am told that it is impossible that the pecuniary advantages 
of the office of examiner can be an inducement. I do not mean 
to affirm that they are, either abstractedly or in the main; but 
I mean to contend, that if half-a-dozen individuals of the same 
profession, whom no other business, perhaps, would bring toge¬ 
ther, can have a good dinner provided for them on half-a-dozen 
occasions every year, and, at the end of the season, receive a score, 
or even a dozen pounds each, into the bargain; I say, I mean 
simply to contend, that (as it is taken care that these calls do not 
in any way interfere with their professional concerns, and as their 
attendance is perfectly optional) the vocation is by no means an 
unpleasant one; and so far, and no farther, makes the office 
desirable. Every pupil, at the time he receives his diploma, 
pays, in consideration thereof, £S..Ss, The number of veterinary 
surgeons created in one year may, at the present rates, be com¬ 
puted at forty, or from that to fifty; making, on an average, the 
sum of about £140, to be annually divided, dinners included, 
among half-a-dozen of the examiners, that being the average 
number present on the committee, and the absentees receiving 
nothing. If you would have me view the affair in a difl’erent 
light, is it not a pity. Sir Astley, that this sum, wdiich really dege¬ 
nerates into a paltry consideration, after the dinners have been 
paid for out of it;—I repeat, is it not a pity that the balance could 
not be appropriated to some purpose for the improvement of that 
profession, yh;' whose good you and your committee are now com¬ 
pelled to share it, and to put it into your pockets ? Surely, Sir, 
this hint can only require introduction among the examiners to be 
