INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
633 
pensate for this, by making clinical observations on the 
morbid specimens, and the history of cases, which, from time 
to time, are forwarded from the country by veterinary sur¬ 
geons, and also by the members of the Royal Agricultural 
Society, as with this society the College has long co-operated 
for the improvement of the treatment of diseases of cattle and 
sheep. 
By appointment also of clinical clerks, an additional help 
is afforded you of studying the phenomena of disease. While 
performing these duties you will be careful to note the pro¬ 
gress of the several cases from day to day, and thus discipline 
your minds for that reflection on cause and effect which must 
be the guide of your future practice. You should learn also 
to make your own diagnosis from what you observe, and see 
how it accords with the opinion of your teachers, and the 
remedies that are employed. Experience will soon correct 
the faults which you may commit, and thus, imperceptibly as 
it were, you will be laying a solid foundation for your fame 
as scientific practitioners to rest upon. Now, then, an oppor¬ 
tunity will likewise be afforded you of seeing the post-mortem 
appearances of cases which had been treated in the Infirmary. 
These must receive your especial notice, with a view to 
compare the lesions that are disclosed, with the several 
symptoms which existed during life. Let all such investi¬ 
gations be recorded by you for future reference: they possess 
a value far beyond any you may at first suppose. 
The examination of horses for soundness forms a large 
portion of the practice of the College, and hence its value to 
you. To it you should give assiduous attention, and note 
the several causes of unsoundness and the relative import¬ 
ance which is attached to each. Some things, which to you 
may appear trivial, will be greatly objected by the examiner; 
while others, on the contrary, which perhaps may seem to 
vou to be serious, will be as lightly thought of by him. Ex¬ 
perience alone can give this knowledge, but seeing its results, 
his experience becomes as it were yours, and is to be used by 
you for your own advantage. 
There is no branch of your profession which will test your 
acquirements more severely than the examination of horses. 
Often will you find yourselves in antagonism to those who 
have passed through the same ordeal, and obtained their pro¬ 
fessional education from the same source as you have. This 
is much to be regretted, and the more so, as we see no 
effectual remedy for the evil. On matters of opinion there 
will ever be a difference, but on matters of fact there surely 
ought to be none. Much might be said on a subject like 
