100 
THE VETERINARIAN, FEBRUARY 1, 1869. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audcat. —Cicero. 
APPOINTMENT OF A COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER THE SYSTEM 
OF EXAMINATION FOR THE DIPLOMA OF THE ROYAL 
COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 
At the last quarterly meeting of the Council Mr. Ernes 
introduced the subject of examination of candidates for the 
Veterinary diploma; and after considerable discussion a 
committee of members was appointed to consider and report 
upon the propositions wliich were made relative to the 
manner of conducting the examination, division of subjects, 
and time to be devoted to testing the candidates^ know¬ 
ledge. 
Mr. Ernes commenced by alluding to the short period 
which is at present allowed for examination, and contended 
that it is impossible in the space of an hour to ascertain the 
fitness of the student to undertake the practical duties of his 
profession. In place of the one hour viva voce examination, 
Mr. Ernes proposes that both oral and written questions 
should be given, and that a part of the examination should 
be of a practical character, and be conducted at a veterinary 
college, where both living and dead subjects may be made 
available for testing the candidate's skill and knowledge of 
his profession. He further suggests that the examinations 
shall be divided, so that a certain number of subjects may 
be comprised in each, for example ;—Anatomy, physiology, 
pathology of domestic animals to be included in the first 
examination. In the second, hygiene, etiology, diagnosis, 
prognosis, therapeutics, surgery, shoeing, and jurisprudence. 
And in the third period, chemistry, materia medica, phar¬ 
macy, botany, and microscopy. Examiners, Ylr. Ernes 
considers, should be eleeted for a term of years, and not for 
life; and he also advises that veterinary surgeons should 
be elected to examine on all branches, excepting chemistry, 
physiology, and botany. 
