442 
TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING 
be of secondary consideration, as most of them are hardly pre¬ 
pared for such a course. I have thought if we first succeeded 
with the regular veterinary colleges, we could probably work the 
others in easier. I should be very glad to hear from the other 
schools ; and as we have Professor Liautard’s report and as he 
himself is present, we will probably get some new idea from him 
as to his work in this line. 
Dr. Liautard: Mr. President and Gentlemen : This is a very 
important question. The fact that it has been brought before the 
Association for a number of years shows its importance. It 
has made some progress, although it has been slow; undoubtedly a 
good deal will be developed in time. There is no doubt but that 
a long course of study is a necessity and that it will impose itself 
as veterinary science progresses in this country. I will say this, 
that the requirements for admission, matriculation, etc., were in¬ 
itiated by the American Veterinary College, being the first insti¬ 
tution in this country which required it. From the moment this 
institution was opened we required a matriculation examination, 
because we felt that our men are engaged in scientific professional 
work. It was necessary that we should have everything as clean 
as possible. What was the condition of matriculation previous to 
1875 in the veterinary school ? Why, a gentleman came in, paid 
his fee, looked at us for a short while, unable to follow our lectures, 
unable to follow the progress he was making, unable to take notes, 
or perhaps in some cases unable to write them. He remained a 
little while, went away and concluded we had robbed him of his 
fee. We could not refuse him. He had complied with the re¬ 
quirements, merely paying his fee and yet we know we were not 
doing justice to that class of men. Then we started this matricu¬ 
lation examiation as I say, the first one I believe in the country in 
a veterinary college, and I am strongly inclined to believe the first 
in any medical college in the State of Hew York. We started it 
so that the student might be able to appreciate the course of in¬ 
struction and be benefited by it. This preliminary example is 
simple; it is not probably what it ought to be. It is not yet up 
to the standard of some of the other schools, but probably will 
come there. 
