LIVERPOOL VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 209 
again be unattended with success. I have some reason to believe, 
however, the attempt will not be persisted in. 
It is with great satisfaction I see that the preliminary (or, more 
properly speaking, the initiatory) examination of the youth as he 
presents himself at the college for admittance has been instituted in 
each of the colleges, and is carried out now at the Royal Veterinary 
College, London, and at Glasgow Veterinary College, in a very fair 
and satisfactory manner. Professor Williams announced at the 
annual dinner that he had come from Edinburgh to arrange terms with 
the London college, but it is to be regretted that all the schools or 
colleges do not carry this out in concert, because, in the event of one 
college rejecting a candidate consequent upon the grossly defective 
state of his education, one of the other schools might receive him 
W'ith open arms—hence the danger of rivalship. 
Again, it is urged by some that our schools should be endowed by 
Government, be supported by the Government, as they are on the 
continent, and that the professors be paid by Government. Now, 
my opinions and views are not in favour of this plan ; I think, with 
Professor Williams and other professors, that each college should 
support itself. Let each stand or fall according to its own merits ; 
if it cannot stand, why, then, let it fall. Private enterprise calls 
forth all the energies of man, and evokes his highest principles. I 
believe that nearly all Government endowments tend to produce 
independence, indifference, and extravagance. Its tendency is to 
weaken individual effort, individual interest, and individual exertion; 
therefore I say, paraphrasing Campbell, 
Our profession needs no bulwarks, 
No towers along the steeps; 
Its march is onward, midst disease 
And science still our motto keeps. 
But there is another question of vast—yea, indeed, it is of the 
last importance to our professional well-being—viz. the education 
of the future veterinary surgeon. Now I wish it to be distinctly un¬ 
derstood that in the present state of things neither we, the members 
of the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, nor the 
Court of Examiners, have any power upon or over the degree of edu¬ 
cation possessed by the youth when he presents himself at college, 
or the sort of education taught him at any of the teaching schools, 
or colleges. They, the colleges, are private or distinct establishments, 
wholly and entirely separate from the Royal College of Veterinary 
Surgeons. We have the power, and we are the only body who have 
the legitimate power to elect a Board of Examiners, to examine a 
candidate when he presents himself, with a view to the obtainment 
of his diploma, and we are the only body legalised to grant diplo¬ 
mas on veterinary medicine and surgery in Great Britain. 
It will be perceived by you that we are a divided head, an irre¬ 
sponsible head. If you go to the colleges and complain that num¬ 
bers of young men emerge from these institutions wholly incompetent 
