638 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
desire to express our public thanks to the Principal Veteri¬ 
nary Surgeon, Mr. J. Wilkinson, and to all others who have 
assisted him in his labours. By Royal warrant, an increase 
of pay and rank has been conferred on the army veterinary 
surgeon. Elsewhere, in the pages of the Veterinarian , 3 t ou 
have the details in full of this important measure, which I 
feel assured will excite the liveliest feelings of interest 
throughout the profession. 
And now, to bring this too long address to a close, lest 
further w T ords of mine, after the counsel I have given, should 
fall listless on your ears, I will adopt the soul-stirring language 
of Bowman, when addressing the students at King’s Col¬ 
lege, and say with him : “ Gentlemen,—Think nobly of your 
profession, and by your conduct make it worthy in your own 
persons of the standard at which you estimate it. Remember 
that its end is beneficent, its studies ennobling and elevating, 
its ministrations an exercise of our best faculties, and in har¬ 
mony with the wffiole constitution of our nature. To excel 
in it is an aim worthy of all your aspirations, of all your 
energies; but requiring mental and moral discipline—patient 
and sustained labour. Go forward in this path with dili¬ 
gence ; make your difficulties a school, in which the strength 
of character may be tried and formed, and convert them 
from adversaries into your best friends. There is no sweeter 
recollection than the sense of difficulties overcome. Strive 
rather to shine in yourselves, than to outshine others. Seek 
less to derive honour from your profession, than to honour 
your profession hy your virtues. Cultivate a love of know¬ 
ledge for the sake of the benefits it will enable you to 
dispense, as well as for the gratification of your own higher 
tastes and capacities ; and then, whatever worldly fortune 
betide, you will win the most valuable of blessings which 
the occupation of a life can confer—the satisfaction, in the 
retrospect, of having improved opportunities, of having 
acted on right principles, of having been the honoured 
means of benefiting your fellow-creatures, while humbly, 
yet earnestly, endeavouring, under the Divine blessing, 
to accomplish the will of your Maker, and to live to His 
glory.” 
