•r , > t m ' ■* *. 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 745 
examination after the third; the pressure, therefore, which 
will he put on the idle will be urgent, hut not unduly severe. 
Another rule provides for the regular attendance of the 
pupils at all the lectures and demonstrations; absence from 
any department of instruction will be taken as absence from 
the College, and must be compensated by additional attend¬ 
ance in the future. Certificate of attendance must be signed 
by each Professor, and without such signatures the candidates 
cannot obtain the right to present themselves for examina¬ 
tion before the board of the Royal College of Veterinary Sur¬ 
geons. Further rules have for their object a better acquire¬ 
ment of practical knowledge than hitherto the pupils have 
possessed. Rules directed to the preservation of order and 
propriety of conduct are, as a matter of course, consonant 
with the feelings of gentlemen, and we should by implication 
insult the class if we ventured to point out their obvious 
intention, or to enforce their reasonable requirements. 
At an age when liberty is dear to the heart it would be 
too much to expect that men should manifest any anxious 
desire to place themselves under restraint ; but, if they are 
wise, they will admit the necessity for rules to enforce order, 
and will, without hesitation, obey them. The voluntary 
system in this respect is very well in theory, but in practice 
it is found to succeed only with the most enthusiastic 
students; and it is, at least, probable that even those who 
have done well of their own good intention would have done 
still better under reasonable restraint. 
For the comparatively short period of two winter sessions 
and one summer session it is not too much to expect that the 
pupil who desires to master the science of his profession will 
set himself steadily to work. With the present arrangements 
for study, no single hour of the day need remain unoccupied ; 
the infirmary, the dissecting room, the laboratory, the 
museum, and the library, will afford opportunities too 
valuable to be disregarded for filling up the outlines of 
knowledge obtained in the lecture room. 
It may appear, at first, that a too exclusive attention to 
study will be mentally and physically injurious. We do not 
share these fears ; there will be plenty of time for recreative 
