EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
419 
students, the “ new movement” is highly appreciated by 
them. With the exception of two or three rejected students, 
the whole class is in attendance, and every department of the 
curriculum attracts its complement of assiduous workers. In 
fine, the success of the scheme is assured, so far as success 
is possible under the present arrangements. 
We repeat, present arrangements, because we hope yet to 
see the “class system ” more perfectly carried out. The union 
of first and second session men is objectionable ; the one is 
puzzled by a multiplicity of unaccustomed subjects, which 
are forced oil his attention all at once ; and the other has to 
endure the repetition of all of them in the succeeding terms, 
whether he has mastered any one of them or not. 
Division of labour, mental or physical, is essential to the 
perfect performance of work; therefore we hold that a 
decided effort should be made to introduce the class system, 
at least to the extent which we have suggested. Not with¬ 
out hesitation do we press for further reforms at our Alma 
Mater, because we are quite aware that we may be met by 
the response that enough has been done for the present; our 
point is, however, that nothing has been done in the last few 
weeks which might not have been achieved more than 
twenty years ago, and in saying this we only echo an oft- 
repeated remark of the members of our profession. A 
quarter of a century of stagnation has left an amount of in¬ 
fertile sediment which will require a great deal of stirring 
before it can be fairly cleared away, and with the knowledge 
of the necessity before us we may be pardoned for impress¬ 
ing on the authorities the importance of action. The happy 
phrase “ rest and be thankful ” may be rightly adopted by 
the politician who sees no room for reform in the future, but 
it can never be accepted by men of science, and for the 
veterinary colleges there is too much to be done to permit 
even a dream of rest, while too much has been left undone 
to justify any present expression of thankfulness. 
