110 
counsels’ opinions 
As these legal opinions were given for, or at the instigation of, 
the Royal Veterinary College of London, we may not be acting 
with any unfairness in assuming that as much has been said, as 
by law could be said, in favour of the said College. The preamble 
of our charter sets forth, “ That the Royal Veterinary College of 
London, and the Veterinary College of Edinburgh, have been 
established for many years for the education of students of the 
veterinary art; that our said petitioners have been pupils at, the 
Veterinary College of London; that the said Veterinary College 
of London was established in the year 1791, and has been pa¬ 
tronized by our predecessors, and now enjoys our royal patronage; 
that the said College was instituted to improve the veterinary art, 
which had been theretofore practised generally by ignorant and 
incompetent persons, which had been long and universally com¬ 
plained of; that Parliament being fully convinced of the propriety 
of such an institution as the Royal Veterinary College of London, 
and of the national benefits to be derived from it, has munificently 
(when required) granted aid to that establishment; that our said 
petitioners humbly submitted that the institution of the Royal Ve¬ 
terinary College had been of great advantage to the country and to 
our ro 3 T al army. * * That for the instruction of the pupils 
of the said Veterinary College, a professor, an assistant professor, 
and other proper officers, are appointed, so as to form a school of 
veterinary art, in which the anatomical structure of horses, cattle, 
sheep, dogs, and other domestic animals, the diseases to which they 
are subject, and the remedies proper to be applied, are investigated 
and regularly taught, and that by these means enlightened prac¬ 
titioners of liberal education are dispersed over the kingdom,” &c. 
Such is the preamble of the charter so far as it has relation to 
the veterinary schools or “colleges;” and as we are informed by 
the legal opinions cited, that we possess no power by any by-law 
to “ interfere with the curriculum of study in the colleges,” we 
naturally inquire what that “curriculum” is, and whether such 
“ curriculum” be determinable and alterable by and at the plea¬ 
sure of the heads of the “ colleges ]” We find it stated in the 
preamble, that a school is formed “ in which the anatomical struc¬ 
ture of horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, and other domestic animals, the 
diseases to which they are subject, and the remedies proper to be 
applied, are investigated and regularly taught .” Was this the 
case, we ask, at the time the charter was drawn up 1 Was this 
formerly, or is this at the present day, the curriculum of study at 
the colleges 1 And if it be so now, is it not the charter that has 
made it so1 So far from “ interfering” with the curriculum of 
study at the college, the corporate body have all along done, and 
are still doing, all they can to amend and improve that curriculum. 
