656 
VETERINARY CLUB. 
sent hour. I feel confident there is no member but what, as well 
as myself, has derived much pleasure and gratification from the 
club : nay, I feel j ustified in taking up higher ground than this, 
and in regarding the club as a society of no mean importance in 
the veterinary hemisphere. Indeed, when we come to look about 
us, and reflect upon the present condition of our profession— 
what a motley, spotted congregation we are—our little club can¬ 
not fail to be a source of peculiar gratification to its members. I 
would denominate it a little focal body, around which, in times 
present and in times to come, may collect much of the talent and 
genius, and much of that which is estimable and good in our pro¬ 
fession. 
“ To Mr. Youatt must be awarded the chief praise of having 
kept us in existence to the present hour. And, in return, I can 
only wish him the same gratification in receiving our present as 
we feel in making it. I will conclude with proposing the health 
of our worthy Secretary, as well as that of all his family; 
hoping they may ever look upon the salver as an honourable tes¬ 
timonial of their father’s merit. Mr. Youatt, and family ! if you 
please, gentlemen, with three times three.” 
The enthusiastic plaudits with which this toast was drunk 
having subsided, and the company again being quietly seated, 
Mr. Youatt, evidently much affected—being taken by surprise 
by what had passed—rose from his seat, and addressed the com¬ 
pany to the following effect:— 
“ Mr. Chairman, Gentlemen,— Believe me, I am utterly in¬ 
capable of expressing what I feel at the present moment. You 
say, that to an humble individual like me the Veterinary Club 
owes its existence. Not so. I can recollect various conversa¬ 
tions with several of my friends around me, respecting the possi¬ 
bility of establishing such a society ; and, naturally ardent, and 
sometimes a little presuming, I may have entered into the sub¬ 
ject as warmly as any of you, and may have worked as honestly 
in the accomplishment of our purpose. For you felt, and I felt, 
that the ordinary pleasures of social intercourse would, in such a 
circle, be heightened, we hardly then dared to calculate how 
much, by the sympathy which each would feel in the pursuits of 
the rest. We were also assured that none but the best of our 
profession would dare to enter such a circle—none who were 
afraid to meet their fellows in the searching, but with us always 
friendly war of words—not one who had anything dishonourable 
in his practice or his heart—not one who could, except under 
some transient impulse, and which left not a trace behind, have an 
unfriendly feeling towards any whom he meets here. 
We succeeded, and here we are. I will not say that we em- 
