374 
ANNUAL DINNER. 
of Physicians, and I have heard some very interestn^ lectures 
there. Last year I heard some on the liver, by Dr. Beale, 
and you know that we have in this country a great deal of 
what is called fatty degeneration of the liver. Another 
course of lectures was upon the nerves, delivered by Dr. 
Radcliffe, and I was very much pleased at the theory the lec¬ 
turer broached, which certainly had in it the element of 
novelty. He maintained in his lectures that everything 
depended on electro-negative or electro-positive action, and 
that we could thus account for a great many phenomena 
which we have been unable to solve up to the present time. 
I hope the time will come when the College of Veterinary 
Surgeons will have a place where occasionally lectures can 
be delivered, and that they may also investigate scientific 
matters connected with their profession, just as the College of 
Physicians does. I believe the College of Physicians stands 
second to none, I am acquainted with many Continental 
institutions, the Ecole de Medecine and others, and I may 
confidently say that I have never seen anything done there that 
has exceeded what is done in this country. With regard to 
the College of Surgeons, I think this is a misnomer. On the 
Continent surgeons are nothing but surgeons; they simply 
attend to wounds and broken bones : here surgeons are 
general practitioners, and there is nothing that escapes them; 
they have to contend with every disease and every malady, 
and, as we kn'ow, they labour under ver}" great difficulties. 
We, as veterinary surgeons, have no difficulty in making our 
post-mortem examinations, for we might make them, if we chose, 
almost every day. Not so with surgeons; they have the 
greatest difficulty in that respect, and meet with constant oppo¬ 
sition. Whenever we have a disease of an interesting nature, 
we can always investigate its effects, and thus tell whether 
we are right or wrong in our treatment. I believe surgeons 
are not quite so ancient as the physicians, but they can trace 
their origin—I do not like to say to the barber-surgeons— 
although I am sure they will not be ashamed even of th;it 
when they look to the progress they have made since that 
time. I beg to give you, ‘‘The health of the College of Phy¬ 
sicians and the College of Surgeons.^^ We are honoured by 
the presence of some of these gentlemen amongst us to-day, 
wdio are eminent in their profession both as teachers and as 
medical men. 
Mr, Qiiain, in acknowledging the toast said—I am 
exactly in tlie same position as the gentleman w'ho has pre¬ 
ceded me, for my W'orthy friend who sat at my right, a dis¬ 
tinguished member of the College of Physicians, who was to 
