MR. BRANSBY COOPER. 
97 
but how do you reconcile the fact of one person pretending to ex¬ 
amine another on subjects concerning which he himself must be in 
a state of comparative ignorance V’ “In a state of ignorance! No, 
no! we profess ourselves to be quite competent in all general 
matters.” “ Will you do me the favour to step into my infirmary 
stable, Doctor 1 There stands a sick horse : now, my dear Doctor, 
can you in any manner or measure divine what that animal’s dis¬ 
order may happen to be 1” The Doctor turned round, and, chuck¬ 
ling, rejoined, “ Egad ! I believe you have me now: this appeal 
ad equum is more than I bargained for.” 
Of the value of the appeal ad equum, there is no one on the 
Examining Board who can have so just and proper a sense as your¬ 
self. Fond as you have always been of riding and driving—Ay! 
and I have known the day when no hounds could have got away 
from you—you must, and acknowledgedly are, the surgeon, of 
all others, who is most competent to arbitrate the questions—By 
whom ought veterinary students to be examined ? By members of 
their own profession, or by surgeons and physicians 1 And should 
you view the subject in the light we do, I trust I know you well 
enough, to assure my veterinary brethren, that you, at least, will 
espouse their cause—that you will throw off an appointment 
which can add nothing to your purse or your fame—and that you 
will recommend our College to do what it ought to have done long 
ago, viz. elect a Board of Examiners out of the veterinary pro¬ 
fession. 
With every desire for your health and happiness. 
Believe me, my dear Sir, to remain, * 
Most faithfully and devotedly yours, 
William Percivall, M.R.C.S., 
Member of tlic Apothecaries’ Company, 
and V.S. in the First Life Guards. 
To prevent any misconception in regard to the aim and purport 
of this Letter, the writer wishes it to be distinctly understood, that 
it is to be considered as addressed to the whole Veterinary Com¬ 
mittee of Examiners : its personal direction to Mr. Cooper having 
arisen, fortuitously, out of the circumstances of similitude in the 
professional life of that gentleman and his own, which seemed to 
the writer to add peculiar force to his statements. 
