380 
ANNUAL DINNER. 
practice of the veterinary profession, only about a third have 
received testimonials of fitness from the Royal College of 
Veterinary Surgeons. Now, 1 would take leave to observe 
that all professions have to go through certain stages of 
progress. The medical profession, or, as I may be allowed 
to call it, the profession of anthropological medicine, has 
had to pass through these stages. There was a time when 
there were no such things as teaching colleges or examining 
boards—a time, nevertheless, when men of great genius 
stood out from their fellows, and earned a vast reputation in 
the world. We may refer, in our own profession, to the time 
when Hippocrates and Galen flourished ; and in later times 
we may refer to such men as Vesalius and Ambrose Pare. 
There has been always scope for individual genius to stand 
forth far beyond the rest, and for men to distinguish them¬ 
selves and advance the study in which they are engaged. 
But it is quite true that at that time the vast majority of the 
medical profession, if I may so call it, 'were, in surgery, but 
barbers; in medicine, but herbalists; with a certain smat¬ 
tering of learning, or, rather, a certain pedantic learned 
jargon which served only to cloak their ignorance. It is 
only in later times that the members of the medical pro¬ 
fession have been able really to claim to belong to a literary 
and scientific body. This has no doubt greatly been owing 
to the institution of associations under legislative sanction 
that have instituted examinations, and have given public 
attestations of fitness; and the great change that has 
occurred is not so much in individuals as in the general 
body of the medical profession. There has been a general 
advancement—a general tendency towards the acquirement 
of practical and scientific knowledge in their profession. 
Now, the veterinary profession has to go through the same 
process. It has come a little later in the field, and it has for 
some time been going through this process. In the veteri¬ 
nary profession you have had very distinguised men, long 
before there were any established bodies under legislative 
sanction. There have been men of distinction, who would 
have been ornaments to any profession or science—men like 
the late Professor Coleman and Bracy Clark, and several 
others, far better known to you than to me, who have justly 
earned for themselves great reputation in veterinary science 
and science generally. But it must be admitted that while, 
as in the general medical profession, you have had a number 
of men pursuing the profession of veterinary medicine and 
veterinary surgery, they have been for the most part very 
little better than mere handicraftsmen. Such must ever be 
