TESTIMONIAL TO PROFESSOR MORTON. 
643 
horses do not like to send their horses away from their stables; and at 
the risk of extra expense, they prefer having them attended to at home. 
In the middle of a town like London, removed from everything like a 
farming district, it is hardly to be expected that patients can be supplied, 
if in the midst of an agricultural district we cannot obtain them. It is 
much to be regretted that this should be so, and it is to be hoped in future 
that agriculturists will further assist us, for they have done a great deal; 
that they will, at a certain sacrifice of time, furnish patients to the public 
hospitals for the purpose of being treated. If this were done we should 
stand much better in the eyes of the public as a profession than we do at 
present. It is with the greatest satisfaction that I have availed myself of 
the opportunity of making these remarks, because 1 assure you your very 
best friends are the agricultural societies and colleges that employ vete¬ 
rinary surgeons for the purpose of imparting instruction relative to the 
diseases and general management of stock. (Cheers.) 
Mr. Hunt, in proposing the next toast, “ The advancement and progress 
of Veterinary Science,” said, it was one that needed no remarks from 
him to ensure its cordial reception. With such professors as they had to 
guide them, and such a man as their president, who had at heart the ad¬ 
vancement of the profession by the improvement of the status of its 
members in the army, he had no doubt as to its future progress. Their 
advancement, in fact, was in their own hands. If they followed the ex¬ 
amples and the advice of those above them, it was their own fault if they 
did not make rapid strides in the way of progress, and he hoped that each 
member of the profession would do the utmost in his power to raise it in 
the estimation of those with whom thev had to do. 
«/ 
Mr. Lepfer in responding to the toast, said, there was no one whose 
position in life depended more upon the continued prosperity of the 
veterinary profession than his did. It was now more than half a century 
ago since he served his apprenticeship to a farrier, a veterinary surgeon 
at that time being known only by name in many parts of the country, 
especially in the isolated spot in which his lot was cast. Some years after¬ 
wards, a gentleman who was well known to many present, Mr. Lush- 
ingtou, located himself in his neighbourhood, and rather encroached on 
his practice. He naturally became a little jealous, as his employers 
thought highly of the veterinary profession. At that time the late Pro¬ 
fessor Coleman possessed a summer residence not many miles off, and he 
(Mr. Lepper) sought his advice, and acting on the same succeeded, after 
three or four sessions’ attendance at the College, in obtaining his diploma. 
Thus much for the past. In the present I think we owe to Professor 
Spooner a debt of gratitude for his exertions in endeavouring, both by 
counsel and conduct, to advance and maintain the dignity of our pro¬ 
fession. He has always pointed out to the young aspirant a line of con¬ 
duct that, when visiting his patients, would give him a right to enter by 
the same portal as the surgeon who attends the family. Iiowever, much 
depends on the conduct of the individual. A man usually makes his own 
position in life, and the public generally take him at his own value. He 
regretted to find that there were many members of the profession who 
felt rather indignant on being consulted in regard to cattle, but this he 
hoped would soon be got over. He well recollected, when he first went 
to Aylesbury, how difficult it was to form a cattle practice; but he was 
glad to know that a better educated class of young men were now 
entering the profession, and he hoped they would be the means of causing 
the profession to rank still higher in the estimation of the public. Reverting 
to the toast, “ Health and prosperity to the Veterinary Profession,” he 
thought its healthy state could be best proved by contrasting its present 
