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146 
THE VETERINARIAN, APRIL l, 1829 . 
Licet omnibus, licet etiammihi, dignitatem artis veterinarice tueri. "—Cicero. 
OPENING OF THE ROYAL VETERINARY SCHOOL 
AT TOULOUSE, NOV. 7, 1828. 
THE progress of veterinary science in other countries cannot be 
uninteresting to the veterinarian; and especially if he feels and 
deplores the debasement of the profession in his native land, he 
will be anxious to learn how it fares with his brethren elsewhere. 
The enquiry may afford him some painful but useful hints of 
comparison. It may suggest important remedial measures; and 
if the comparison should be too unfavourable and dishonourable 
to him, it will urge him temperately, but fearlessly, pertinaciously 
and successfully to plead the cause of his degraded art. 
Veterinary schools had long been established at Alfort and 
Lyons. They were associated, and, in a manner, identified with 
the agricultural societies which had previously existed. The ob¬ 
ject which they professed, and which was steadily pursued, was 
the management, preservation, and amelioration of all domesti¬ 
cated animals; and they soon become the centres of agricultural 
improvement to a considerable extent around them. 
The southern departments of France, however, were far distant 
from the metropolis, and even from Lyons. It was a long way 
for the pupil to travel, and for agricultural knowledge to radiate. 
The provinces of Gascony and Languedoc were among the most 
fertile which France possessed; but, compared with the northern 
districts, the system of agriculture, and the treatment of cattle, 
were sadly in arrear. 
The French government at length determined to found a college 
at Toulouse, and even more strictly than at Alfort and Lyons, on 
the grand principle of identification with the agricultural prospe¬ 
rity of the surrounding country. 
We subjoin an account of the opening of this school. We are 
not prepared to defend all the minutiae of instruction; but the plan 
much resembles, or rather it is even superior to, that on which the 
college at St. Pancras was founded, and intended to be conducted. 
