528 
TESTIMONIAL TO PROFESSOR MORTON. 
hand, ha3 been presented by the members of the profession. You thus 
see how great are my obligations; and in a corresponding ratio will be 
the regret I must feel at the separation which is about to take place be¬ 
tween us ; inasmuch as, I presume that from this day our professional 
union may be said to be severed. 
The day, independent of this, may well be marked by me with a 
white stone, as one never to be forgotten. I shall ever bear in remem¬ 
brance your kindness upon this interesting, and, I may add, important 
occasion. But I fear that there has been too favorable a view taken of 
my humble endeavours by you. It has been my good fortune to make 
many friends in the profession, and among them the oldest is your chair¬ 
man. He has told you that he knew me at my first entering the College. 
I am indebted to him for many kindnesses which commenced then, and 
have been continued up to the present moment. May the friendly feeling 
which has sprung up between us never be lessened! There has been 
such consideration manifested throughout this transaction, that I shall 
ever remember it; all my omissions seem to have been forgotten by you, 
and my commissions forgiven. This meeting has been convened for the 
special purpose of doing me honour, or as it is handsomely expressed in 
the advertisement with which you are all familiar, but which I shall take 
the liberty of paraphrasing and applying—“ that the gratitude of the 
profession may be exhibited in some shape more tangible than mere 
words, so that on my retirement I may carry with me into private life, 
not only the good wishes of the members of the profession, but a lasting 
proof of the estimation in which I am held by them, and an assurance of 
their regret that I shall have ceased to be, in a professional sense, one 
amongst them. 55 Such a statement as this is well calculated to awaken 
feelings of pride in me, were it not that they are immediately checked 
by a consciousness of how little I have really merited this proof of your 
esteem and regard. But whilst I say this, gentlemen, I will be honest 
and tell you that it has ever been my desire to obtain the good opinion of 
the members of the profession, and therefore it was that in the fulfilment 
of the duties of the appointment which I have for so long a period held, 
I have, to the best of my abilities, endeavoured to meet the wants and 
the wishes of those who have been more immediately placed under my 
instruction. 
Now as I have been for thirty-five years connected with the Royal 
Veterinary College, it may justly be expected that something will be said 
by me in reference to the past and present state of that institution, so 
far, at least, as the educational department is concerned, with, which I 
have had most to do. And it affords me the highest gratification to be 
able at once to state that there is no comparison between the means as 
they exist now and those which existed when I first became acquainted 
with the College. They are both more extended and more varied, so that 
it is a student’s own fault—provided, of course, that he possesses the ne¬ 
cessary preliminary education and abilities—if at the termination of his 
studies he has not acquired that amount of information which shall not 
only enable him to obtain his diploma from the Royal College of Veteri¬ 
nary Surgeons, but to go forth into life and practise his profession with 
honour and profit to himself and his employers. (Cheers.) My colleagues, 
who are present on this occasion—I should perhaps have said my late 
colleagues, but I am sure they will allow me to continue them on my 
list of friends—can tell you how feeble were my beginnings, how imper¬ 
fect also, and what difficulties I had to contend with. Nevertheless, I 
was enabled through the kind support of friends, effectually to combat 
with any little obstacles which for a time presented themselves ; although 
