ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 339 
service: the following communication to the Commander-in- 
Chief, and to the Chairman of the India Board, with the reply 
from the Horse Guards, will give the result:— 
To his Grace the Duke of Wellington. 
My Lord Duke, 
In the year 1844, her Majesty was graciously pleased to accede to the 
prayer of the Members of the Veterinary Profession, by the grant of a Char¬ 
ter of Incorporation—a copy of which I have the honour to enclose herewith 
—calling into existence the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The 
College thus created was empowered to examine candidates to become Mem¬ 
bers of the Corporate Body, and to grant Diplomas authorizing gentlemen to 
practise the Veterinary Art. 
Her Most Gracious Majesty’s desire, when thus recognizing a long esta¬ 
blished body, and conferring upon them the title of a profession, was the fur¬ 
ther advancement of the Veterinary Art, in order to increase those benefits 
which it had been found to bestow upon the cavalry regiments of Her Majesty’s 
service. 
As in duty bound, labouring in obedience with Her Majesty’s desire ex¬ 
pressly declared in the preamble to the Charter, the Council of the Royal 
College of Veterinary Surgeons have instituted a Board of Examiners, and 
taken such measures as seemed to them calculated to improve the Veterinary 
Art by enlarging the education and elevating the qualifications of all who 
should be admitted members of their body. 
The additional preparation of the Students which these measures have 
necessitated has caused the Teachers at the different Schools to act in oppo¬ 
sition to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. These Schools have, on 
their own responsibility, established certain bodies which they have entitled 
Boards of Examiners: such Boards of Examiners, acting without and against the 
authority of the Charter, and in opposition to the wish of Her Most Gracious 
Majesty therein declared, have undertaken to issue certain papers which they 
term Diplomas, and which are pretended to be of all the force and value of 
the Licence and Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. 
I therefore have presumed to make your Grace aware of this fact, lest 
any persons possessing such spurious Diplomas, and who have not been duly 
examined as to their attainments, should presume to apply to be appointed 
as Veterinary Surgeons in Her Majesty’s service. At the same time, I hum¬ 
bly venture to beg your Grace’s authority to the statement, that, so long as a 
College shall exist under a Royal Charter of Incorporation, no instrument 
issued by any private Association or public School will by your Grace be 
recognized. 
I have the honour to be, &c. &c. 
Thomas Turner, 
President ot the Koyal C ollege of Veterinary Surgeons. 
May \st, 1848. 
