TESTIMONIAL TO PROFESSOR MORTON. 
533 
I can look back to the time when there was more energy in my com¬ 
position than there is now. Age, we all know, chills the blood, and 
causes it to flow less vigorously than in youth. Notwithstanding, I am 
extremely happy to say that as yet I do not feel myself quite “used up.” 
(Cheers and laughter.) There is still a little stamina left in me; and, if 
circumstances permit, I shall be very happy to continue to employ it in 
your service. (Cheers.) A period of thirty-five years is a long one to be 
connected with a profession and to maintain with it a friendly intercourse, 
which has increased with increase of years, until the point of culmination 
appears to have been reached in the present meeting. And now I retire 
from it, not a rich man, as I have on an occasion similar to the present 
said, but God has given me sufficient for my wants, with which I am con¬ 
tented, and for which I desire to be grateful. I am not a man of extra¬ 
vagant habits, and have been taught to keep my desires within bounds. 
It now only remains for me—and it is a hard task—to say to you 
Farewell ! This your generous approval of my conduct is to me, in 
every sense, most gratifying. It is the crowning of my labours at their 
close; reflections thereon will be fragrant even in death, and my gratitude 
shall be more enduring than the material of which the testimonial is com- 
posed; for when the heavens shall be rolled up as a scroll, and this earth, 
and all that is in it, are burned up, then the emancipated soul will, I 
trust, rise to a higher and a better world, bearing there a remembrance 
of the kindnesses it received below ; only with this difference—that the 
impressions made can never be effaced, but rather will become intensified, 
because the mind, being rendered pure, will be more fitted to receive the 
impress of that which is true and good. Again and again, gentlemen, 
accept my sincere thanks for this marked manifestation of your kindness. 
May health, long life, and prosperity, be yours in this world, and all 
happiness in that which is to come. (Loud cheers.) 
Professor Spooner, addressing Professor Morton, said—Sir, as the 
President of the Veterinary Medical Association , I am deputed by the 
Council of that body to present to you the Vote of Thanks which is em¬ 
blazoned on this parchment scroll. The Association is one with which 
you have been connected ever since its foundation, and you have laboured 
hard for its advancement. I need not say, that to the labours which you 
have performed in connection with it, its present prosperity is entirely 
due. It is, therefore, with the greatest degree of pleasure that I, as the 
President of that Society, present you with this Vote of Thanks. (Cheers.) 
Professor Morton — I accept the thanks of the Council of the 
Veterinary Medical Association with the highest satisfaction. First, sir, 
I will address myself to you, inasmuch as you and I were associated to¬ 
gether at the formation of the Association. We will not advert, upon such 
an occasion as this, to the circumstances that compelled us to go forth to the 
profession and solicit their support; but we may venture, I think, to say, 
that that support was most cordially given; and an appeal having been 
made by us to the Governors of the College to allow the meetings of the 
Association to be held within its walls, they at one granted our request, 
and we commenced, I believe, the first year, with more than a hundred 
members. From that time to the present the Association has continued 
to increase in the number of its members, but unfortunately perhaps in 
a certain sense, it may be said that it has now become a pupils’ society. 
There was a time when the older members of the profession came amongst 
us, and freely entered into the debates. We happen, however, to be 
located at one end of London, and it was soon found to be inconvenient 
to the members of the profession to come such a distance. Nevertheless, 
the Association has continued to progress satisfactorily. You will re- 
