554 ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COLLEGE, &C. 
tion, and the plan he has proposed, have long* had a place in my 
mind. I have long thought that the most direct road to the im¬ 
provement of our profession, and, consequently, the advancement 
of its respectability, was to establish a college of veterinary 
surgeons, chartered by government, and similar in its principles 
to its sister institution, the college of human surgeons. Let the 
examining committee of that college alone have the power and 
authority to confer upon the student a certificate or diploma; for 
they only, as veterinary surgeons, can form an adequate judg¬ 
ment of the qualifications of each candidate. (I do not wish it to 
be understood that I consider a knowledge of the general prin¬ 
ciples of medicine and of chemistry either useless or unneces¬ 
sary ; on the contrary, it is indispensable, because I know that 
without that knowledge no veterinary surgeon can practise with 
honour or pleasure to himself.) By these means we should be 
freed from the host of “ grooms and coachmen, porters and 
whippers-in,’' who are annually sent forth, with the sanction of a 
national institution, under the patronage of royalty, to cut and 
drench, according to the most approved formulae of ignorance 
and conceit', ail the unfortunate animals which may be placed 
under their superintendence ; and we should not have among us 
so many men totally devoid of that education without which no 
one has any claim to the title and respect due to a gentleman : 
we should assume our proper station in society, and be looked 
upon with respect; and the name of veterinary surgeon, instead 
of a reproach, would be an honour. Surely, when the legislature 
is told of our degraded and sunken condition, and of the 
thousands of animals which are benefitted or deteriorated by our 
skill or our ignorance, and of the important part of the national 
wealth placed, in a manner, under our care; and when it is told of 
the corrupt and baneful system of education which has so long 
excluded us from our proper and natural rank and consideration 
in the country, I am confident it will not be backward in manifest¬ 
ing an interest in our prosperity. I do not imagine it will be a dif¬ 
ficult task to induce an influential member of the legislative body 
to lay our case before Parliament, and state all our grievances. 
There are many of those members who have long exerted them¬ 
selves for the advancement of knowledge, who have long seen 
that the happiness of a people depends greatly upon their intelli¬ 
gence, and their freedom from superstition and ignorance; and 
amongst such men there surely are some who would readily un¬ 
dertake the cause of an oppressed and betrayed profession. 
It would ill become me to make many remarks in detail; but 
I cannot refrain from stating, that I think no time ought to be lost 
in drawing up a memorial, and obtaining thereto the signatures 
