INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
641 
recommend the special works which he advises you to 
procure on his subjects; but for other branches of the 
science, I would recommend you, as I have often advised 
your predecessors, to study the very pleasing and profitable 
work of Billing f on the Practice of Medicine/ You will 
also find in Carpenter’s c Physiology,’ and in the works of 
Todd and Bowman, a complete record of the present state 
of physiological science ; and in Quain and Sharp ey’s 
f Descriptive and Structural Anatomy/ the structure of 
tissues answering to that of functions, is most elaborately 
discussed. i 
You will most of you, doubtless, become members of the 
Veterinary Medical Association, which possesses an excellent 
library, of which you will have the use. By attendance at 
its weekly meetings, you will cultivate the habit of profes¬ 
sional and scientific intercourse, and both receive and impart 
a great deal of useful information. 
So much for your part in this day’s proceedings. Let me 
now congratulate the College upon the fact that our relations 
with othfer bodies are both maintained and extended. The 
Royal Agricultural Society of England still continues its 
annual grant of j 8200 in furtherance of our objects, inseparably 
connected, as they are rightly felt to be, with agriculture. 
I may here also mention that the late Professor Coleman 
made a bequest to the College for the emulation of the stu¬ 
dents in the pursuit of veterinary science; and from the 
accumulated interest of this bequest, the Governors have 
determined, at the close of each session, to give medals and 
a certificate of merit for the best essay upon any subject, to 
be chosen by the professors, who will also have the awarding 
of the respective prizes. 
It always gives me the greatest pleasure to signalise the 
union existing between the medical profession and our own, 
and I am. happy to say that that union was never closer than 
it is at this moment. This is, indeed, what it should be. 
Humanity is, and ought to be, the boast of both. Nor are 
we degraded by the fact that in our humane calling science is 
applied to the alleviation of the sufferings of creatures lower 
than ourselves. The realities of the science are the same 
with both, and even the general text books of the professions 
the same. Our board of examiners also is partly selected 
from the eminent men of the medical profession—a consti¬ 
tution which I believe is calculated, under present circum¬ 
stances, to contribute to the honour, the attainments, and the 
efficiency of our profession. I believe, likewise, that this 
alliance of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons with 
