314 MEETING OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
lie may have been rejected by them ? If any memorial can be 
proposed addressed to the patron of the College, or to others, for 
the redress of our manifest grievances, I will zealously support it ; 
but this is a mere farce. 
Mr. Hart. —What do you consider proper authority? 
Mr. Child. —Acknowledged authority. 
Mr. Cherry. —There can be no authority superior to that of 
the body of veterinary practitioners. Much as I respect the 
ability which Mr. Child has displayed, I cannot approve of the 
indiscriminate swoop with which lie would consign the veterinary 
pupils to utter insignificance. I think them to be a diligent, 
studious, praiseworthy body. They have not the mark of Cain 
upon them. They are a class of young men most likely to apply 
to this second committee. It would be an additional honour to 
them. I was present in a court of justice when Baron Vaughan, 
remarkable for his horse-knowledge, looking at the College cer¬ 
tificate, asked “What is this?—A piece of parchment: no, not 
possessing the value of parchment; a scrap of paper. There are 
great names attached to it,—Sir Astley Cooper, Mr. Brodie. 
These names would tell for something subscribed to the certificate 
of a human surgeon, but these gentlemen can know nothing about 
veterinary practice. You must put this completely out of the 
question.” 
Mr. C. Clark thought that every young veterinarian desirous 
to stand high with the public would present himself before this 
second committee. 
Mr. Hart. —They must do so; for if it be true, as the Pro¬ 
fessor so frequently asserts, that medical men never become good 
veterinary practitioners, they cannot be good and efficient prac¬ 
titioners. 
Mr. Child. — I apprehend, sir, that we are not here to discuss 
the value of a College diploma, but the propriety of a certain 
question. I am aware of no veterinary establishment beside that 
at the College, except Mr. Youatt’s. There is no institution that 
could, with propriety, grant diplomas. I am sorry that the 
College diploma is so cheap, and so easily obtained; yet while 
the College exists, it would be absurd to set up an examining 
committee, except it were accompanied by another school of 
education; and the school should most undoubtedly precede the 
committee. 
Let any specific plan of reform be laid down, and I will 
enter into it cordially and zealously. It has been too long and 
too notoriously wanted: but the measure now proposed is fraught 
with absurdity; and the signature of Sir A. Cooper to the present 
