ANNUAL DINNER. 
381 
the case for a time. This state of things, however, is gra¬ 
dually being changed; and it is matter of congratulation 
that in the present state of the veterinary profession the 
great majority of its practitioners are men who have under¬ 
gone some reasonable education; and in reference to one 
third, at any rate, of the veterinary body practising in 
England, that number at least, have become members of the 
Body Corporate. I suppose it cannot be doubted tliat a great 
deal of the improvement that has been made in the veteri¬ 
nary profession is due, in the first instance, to the institution 
of the Royal Veterinary College. 1 am informed by my 
friend on my right, that it has existed since the year 1792; 
and that they had not only established a regular instruction 
in veterinary medicine and surgery, but that they had 
regular examinations, and gave, without legislative sanc¬ 
tion, attestations of fitness. No doubt this voluntary 
institution, as it might be called, has had a most beneficial 
effect in advancing the profession; but within the last 
twenty years, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, 
incorporated by Royal Charter, has had legislative sanction 
for giving attestations of fitness, by which the regularly 
educated veterinary surgeon may be distinguished by the 
world from the irregular practitioner. I think this is a 
matter of very great congratulation indeed, and that a new 
era has been opened for the profession, by the institution 
and by the labours of the Royal College of Veterinary 
Surgeons. As a member of the examining body, I feel that 
it is a pleasure to be associated in the task of elevating the 
veterinary profession with gentlemen of great eminence in 
the profession ; and I think it is the duty of the practitioners 
of anthropological medicine to lend their best aid to the 
accomplishment of that great end. Let me observe, before 1 
sit down, that there are many points of correspondence be¬ 
tween the two professions, as has been alluded to by Mr. 
Quain; and 1 feel, particularly, in my own person, that I 
form a sort of uniting medium betw’een the tw’o. The phy¬ 
siology is the same in both cases, and let me also observe 
that we are largely indebted for the progress of physiology 
as a general science, having no more special reference to 
man than to the domestic animals, on which we so much 
depend, to the members of the veterinary profession. It is 
not for me to go into detail and to specify all the instances 
of this kind ; but there are tw^o that occur to me, particularly, 
at this moment. First, I would refer to those remarkable 
experiments which w^ere made by one of your body. Professor 
Hering, of Stuttgart, upon the velocity of the circulating 
