530 
TESTIMONIAL TO PROFESSOR MORTON. 
serials with which my name has been associated as co-editor, namely, 
‘ The Transactions of the Veterinary Medical Association,’ ‘ The Veterinary 
Iiecord ’—a work that never ought to have been discontinued—and the 
one still carried on by me, in conjunction with my colleague and friend 
Professor Simonds, ‘ The Veterinarian 
But in addition to the extended and varied means of education now 
adopted at Alma Mater, I may be allowed to refer to another circumstance 
which did not exist when I was first acquainted with that institution; 
namely, the concentration of the instruction within its walls. Pupils are 
not now required to go from one end of London to the other to acquire 
information, as they were w T ont, for all is taught there that is at present 
thought necessary for the education of the veterinary surgeon. And 
besides all this, I may be permitted to allude to the incentives to study. 
These, too, are very different from what they were. The Veterinary Medical 
Association continues to give certificates of merit and medals for the best 
essays introduced for debate during the session; and the governors of the 
College, in the exercise of a sound judgment, in my humble opinion, and 
at the same time carrying out the intentions of the donor, have lately 
determined on awarding the “ Coleman bequest ,” for which there has been 
no claimant for several years, to the students of that institution. Conse¬ 
quently, for the first time this session, two medals, a silver and a bronze 
one, have been adjudged, and also a certificate of merit, to the authors of 
the three best essays on a selected subject; the proposers of which -were, 
of course, the professors of the College, as they were also the examiners of 
the essays, and reported to the governors their respective merits. I 
hesitate not to assert thus publicly, that the essays sent in this year 
redounded much to the credit of the different competitors. I, for one, 
confess that I was astonished at their length and amount of thought and 
industry manifested in their compilation. Now you will bear in mind, 
that these essays were written without the aid of books; the students 
being required to write the papers in a room together, and then to leave 
them in the hands of an appointed officer, to be by him retained until they 
had been examined. We are quite aware that young men can, if there 
be an aptitude to learn, soon acquire such an amount of information as 
will enable them to put to paper that which they have duly impressed 
upon their minds ; but as books were withheld for a time, there is but a 
short period, at any rate, that can be allowed for making those notes 
which they have afterwards to record. I repeat, I was not at all pre¬ 
pared for such elaborate and well-digested essays as were placed before us, 
and I believe that feeling was participated in by my then colleagues. (Hear, 
hear.) 
From what has been advanced, it is, I think, satisfactorily shown, that 
much has been effected conducive to the onward progress of the pro¬ 
fession. But are we now to stand still, contented with what has been 
done? Forbid it, science! Forbid it, common humanity! We live in 
an age remarkable for progress. Everything around us is indicative of 
movement. To stand still, therefore, is virtually to retrogress. Turn to 
what we may, religion, the sciences, politics, commerce, each seems 
pressing onwards with giant strides to some as yet undiscovered goal. 
Surely this unquiet must eventuate in some great moral change. It 
appears to me that we have arrived at the beginning of the end. We 
must then be up and doing; must be no laggards, or we shall be left 
behind in the race. And shall it be said that of all the sons the profession 
has brought forth, there are none to guide her in the onward march of 
mind ? Hitherto there has been no lack of them. One after another has 
risen up ; in confirmation of which I look upon my right hand and upon 
