MEETING OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
313 
Chairman. —The original motion would bring us at once to 
open war; and I do not know whether that were not to be de¬ 
sired, for we should then know what we were to expect, and what 
we were about. 
Mr. Thompson. —If we must have war, the sooner the better. 
If we must draw the sword, let us throw away the scabbard. 
After some farther discussion, and that of too personal a nature, 
the original motion was withdrawn, and the amendment carried by 
a very great majority. It was then moved and carried, 
That the profession, thus situated, deems it necessary to adopt 
such measures as appear to be for the general good of the pro¬ 
fession and the public. 
Mr. Cherry. —It has been carried at a previous meeting, that 
a committee of six veterinary surgeons should be appointed to 
act in concert with the present committee. No man can doubt 
that the examination of veterinarians should be principally con¬ 
ducted by veterinary surgeons. Following up this principle, I beg 
leave to move, 
“That a committee of twelve veterinary surgeons, selected from 
the general body of practitioners, be elected by that body, to 
examine such persons as may present themselves for that purpose, 
with authority to give certificates of qualification; and that 
this committee be designated the i Veterinary Board of Ex - 
a miners.’ ” 
This resolution contains in it nothing compulsory on the practi¬ 
tioner or the student. He may present himself before this board, 
or he may not. Nothing can compel him but the force of public 
opinion. It may, therefore, be passed with perfect safety. It is 
establishing that which ought to have been established by the 
governors of the present College, with this advantage, that it will 
admit pupils from every school. 
Mr. Child. —This motion appears to me puerile, ridiculous, 
and involved in absurdity. Will this committee, separate from 
the College, ever establish itself in the estimation of the public ? 
Will a young man present himself to this committee in preference 
to, or when he has passed, the first ? Such a committee would be 
the laughing-stock of the world. It is like the radical reformers. 
They first petition parliament, and, that petition being rejected, 
they threaten to send members themselves. It is a complete 
farce. Will practitioners, separate and apart from the College, 
be able to establish an ordeal before which the veterinary pupil 
will be induced to present himself, and from which he will go 
forth as an accredited veterinary surgeon, if he has not been ap¬ 
proved by the properly authorised committee; or if, perchance, 
