EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
167 
REPORT OE THE GOVERNORS OE THE ROYAL VETERINARY 
COLLEGE TO THE COUNCIL OE THE ROYAL AGRICUL¬ 
TURAL SOCIETY, EOR THE YEAR 1861. 
The Governors of the Royal Veterinary College beg to lay 
before the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society their 
Report for the past year. In doing this, they feel it alto¬ 
gether unnecessary that they should expatiate at any length 
upon the advantages derived from the united action of the 
two institutions, which has now existed for so many years. 
They desire, however, to direct the attention of the Council 
to the educational advantages which the College, under the 
agreement between the two institutions, affords. 
No more efficient means for permanently improving the 
practice of the Veterinary Art in its application to domesti¬ 
cated animals, other than the horse, can be provided that the 
inculcation of the principles of medical science in the minds 
of the rising members of the profession. Hence, the governors 
have been careful to ensure the continuance of lectures on the 
diseases of these animals. Throughout the past session, four 
lectures a week have been regularly delivered; and as each 
session commences in October and ends in May, no less than 
a hundred lectures have been given in the sessional year on 
this subject. In addition to the lectures, clinical instruction 
and demonstrations on morbid parts, which from time to time 
reach the College from members of the Agricultural Society 
and Veterinary Surgeons, have been likewise given. The 
receipt of specimens of disease has undergone a steady 
increase, so that it may be said that scarcely a week now 
elapses without the students acquiring a practical insight into 
the pathological condition of the several organs and tissues of 
the bodies of the animals in question. By the rules of the 
College, no student can avoid attendance on the instructions 
of the Professor of Cattle Pathology, any more than he can 
on those of the other professors; and it is with much satis¬ 
faction that the governors can add, on the united testimony of 
all the teachers, that an equal desire exists among the stu¬ 
dents to acquire information on this, as on the other divisions 
of Veterinary Science. 
Each student, at the close of his studies, has to undergo a 
preliminary examination, conducted by his teachers, and to 
obtain a certificate, before he can present himself at the 
Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Veterinary 
Surgeons as a candidate for its diploma. At this Court an 
equal period of time is devoted to the examination on Cattle 
Pathology as on the other branches of Veterinary Science; 
thus a correct and efficient test of the education of the 
