THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
119 
not that we would have it inferred that these questions always 
determine the student’s choice at all, for the college having the 
most graduates to her credit naturally seems the most popular at 
first sight; and nearly all intending students consult their nearest 
veterinary surgeon regarding the college to choose, before making 
a selection, and this practitioner very naturally recommends his 
alma mater , so that the college with the longest list of alumni 
has or should have the most influential friends to induce students 
to choose that college. 
The colleges requiring three sessions for graduation very nat¬ 
urally show a smaller percentage of graduates, as there are three 
classes, the members of only one of which are available for grad¬ 
uation, while the three years’ time increases the probabilities of 
students dropping out from various causes. On the whole we 
believe that, were the data available, we .would find that the ratio 
of graduates to the number of students who have attended the 
course prescribed, would reach ninety-five per cent, or upwards, 
a percentage probably unequaled, surely unsurpassed, in any class 
of learned institutions in this or any other country. Possibly 
these figures imply thorough teaching by the faculty and great 
aptness on the part of students, but more likely, we believe, they 
indicate a laxity in the examinations. 
An encouraging sign of the times, however, is the fact that 
the University of Pennsylvania had enrolled in 1886-’7, forty- 
nine students who were willing to submit to a three years’ course 
of nine months each, and we are credibly informed that Harvard 
and several of the veterinary departments in agricultural univer¬ 
sities are reasonably well patronized. That they will prosper 
more and more each year should be the fervent wish of every 
veterinarian who has the true interests of his profession at heart, 
and still more fervently should we hope that those we have chosen 
to denominate “old” colleges, should soon find sufficient financial 
and moral support to enable them to advance to the same position 
as to requirements, as we feel sure all interested parties already 
admit that a full three years’ course is at least short enough, 
(To he continued ) t 
