INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
684 
a knowledge of the profession, and to succeed in its practice. 
If, then, it is not judicious to give more lectures daily, or to 
extend without interruption the time of their delivery, what, 
it may be asked, should be done? Why, divide the session 
into two parts, and give a short Summer upon the long Win¬ 
ter course. Open the school on the 1st of October, and 
close it in March; begin again on the 1st of May, and finish 
with the end of June ;—follow, in fact, the example of the best 
medical schools in this respect. Each lecturer would thus be 
enabled better to divide and classify his subjects, and with, 
it must be admitted, advantage both to himself and the 
pupils. The “ cramming system” would be avoided, and 
time would be given to digest the material that had been 
taken in. 
I speak with much deference here to my colleagues; 
but ample work would be found, and yet no addition be 
needed to the number of the professors, if Practical Chemistry 
and Botany, Veterinary Jurisprudence and the Principles of 
Surgery, Microscopic and Comparative Anatomy, formed the 
subjects of the Summer course. This, however, like many 
other suggestions in this address, is put forward more for 
future thought than immediate action. Changes such as 
these, beneficial though they be, we, the teachers, cannot of 
our own will or power carry into effect. It belongs to the 
Governors to do these things, and respectfully would I direct 
their attention to them. May we venture to hope that some 
change in the right direction will take place, now that the 
necessity has been pointed out. If so, our end is answered. 
And now, gentlemen, I have a word or two for the mem¬ 
bers of the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Sur¬ 
geons, several of whom I have the honour to see around me, 
—a hint for their future consideration, and likewise that of my 
colleagues. 
Like many other things herein advanced, it will doubtless, 
at first, appear very visionary to some, nevertheless, even to 
those I would say give it thought, discard it not forthwith 
because of its seeming improbability. 
It is essential for my purpose, that I begin by directing 
your notice to the circumstance that, a few years since, her 
Majesty was pleased to grant us a Royal Charter of Incor¬ 
poration, by which we became a legalized profession, with a 
power of self-government, and other privileges eminently 
calculated, if used aright, to effect much ultimate good. A 
hasty examination of this document, unfortunately, induced 
those who had to do with its first working, to believe that 
they had gained some important triumph over the schools; 
and it likewise led the authorities of this Institution to think 
