208 
ANNIVERSARY DINNER OF 
In T' thel '. than as y° un g er sons, or as junior brethren. 
shaUbe vrnfr r« e l the |r emment ° f y ° Ur COlmtry has ftxed what 
Jiall Ik your lank. The government of your country has given 
you commissions m the army, and thus made vou gentlemen 
JjZZr vrr deg, r of rank >' and 1 take some degree 
s-ettino- th; m ^ Se i,'t lavm = Y 11 ’ P art ly at least, instrumental in 
rant S th s/k ™ u g h t about. You could not formerly assume this 
rank, and it does not now exist with respect to all veterinary 
tfYsY ln -°P e - Veterinary surgeons, however, have not 
LeTd'ff V he SUrg60ns in the arm y ; ^ere is a 
shade of difference between surgeons in the army and veterinary 
U cfnnot’ hYTv °[• rank ' • N ° W ’ if WC l00k at ‘his impartial^ 
makes°tbp'fl ff' “ , ,s W ? U founded i for what is it that 
makes the difference of rank and class in society ? They who 
lave been obliged to spend the most money in their education • 
those professions that require the greatest talent, will receive 
superior consideration and respect; and, after all, they will 
obtain the highest condition and rank who get the most money_ 
the best means to support that rank. Therefore, the profession 
of human surgery will always be superior to a profession where 
the education is less expenswe, where the emoluments are less, 
and wheie the difficulties of learning it are much fewer. Now 
it may be said, that, so far as anatomy and physiology are 
required, there is as much knowledge ftecessary in the veteri¬ 
nary art as m the treatment of the human subject. But when 
you look at the various operations performed in surgery, which 
are never performed in the horse-cataract, for instance ; am¬ 
putations; operations for the stone; operations for hernia 
hydrocele—these very seldom occur in the horse, and there are 
a great number of diseases to which horses are not subject and 
consequently, which furnish emolument to the medical prac¬ 
titioner. 1 hese, and various other causes, in my mind, shew 
that we cannot obtain the same emolument and the same rank • 
and if we cannot obtdn the same degree of rank as a matter of 
rig it, 1 do not think we should say we are upon a par with the 
medical profession. 
So far, however, as my experience goes in life, medical men are 
always happy to hold out their hands to us as brothers. They 
want to make no distinction between us; and from all I have 
teamed from veterinary surgeons, medical men have been our 
best allies, our best friends. I mention this, gentlemen, to show 
, at there can be, m my estimation, no sort of degradation; and 
I am sure none was intended by Sir Astley Cooper in proposing 
that there should be a separate veterinary committee. There is 
this additional circumstance to be considered ; viz. that identi- 
