LANCASHIRE VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
229 
&c., and the penalty for using such title without legal qualification ; 
4th, admits any one who chooses to style himself Veterinary Surgeon 
before the obtainment of the Charter into the profession; 5th, the 
manner in which the penalties are to be recovered in the three 
kingdoms; and 6th, the application of penalties when obtained. 
I ask again, what there is in it? Nothing ; and if we cannot frame 
a better Bill than this, let us be without altogether. Indeed, its 
very emptiness will always blast it in the eyes of any legislature. 
My idea is this—firstly, we have our Charter of Incorporation, 
which entitles those who choose to go through a certain course of 
study and final examination, to legally style themselves Members of 
the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, but does not prevent or 
provide any punishment for those who choose dishonestly to adopt 
the same titie, without the necessary labour to obtain the same. 
The Act is as it were a patch on the Charter, which says only such 
as have undergone certain preparation, &c,, shall call themselves 
Veterinary Surgeons ; on the face of this, the Act you would have 
had says you shall all adopt the title if you have only done so before 
the obtainment of the Charter. I fancy I hear some say they are 
only left as they were. But I beg leave to differ from this, and 
call your attention to Clause 4, “ Provided, nevertheless, that the 
said Act shall not affect any person who shall have assumed the 
title of Veterinary Surgeon previous to the obtainment of the 
Charter.” By this I say you legalise the title. No doubt they will 
be getting old, and you say they will soon die out. Granted, but 
you do not make any provision for the more intellectual body of 
men to whom I have before alluded, and have had the advantage of 
an education, though unable to obtain the diploma, simply from the 
loss of time and money it would entail, and who I am sure would 
willingly embrace the proposition I have already spoken of. The 
same would apply to gentlemen holding the certificate of the 
Highland Society of Scotland. This leads me to the Charter 
question. I need hardly say that I am of opinion that there should 
be but one Charter, and one head of any profession from which all 
schools should receive the same diploma, and to which all should 
be to a certain extent responsible. That is to say, in matter relating 
to the general welfare of the profession at large. If this were so 
we should then be able to lay down something like rules and regu¬ 
lations for the education of our pupils. For instance, preliminary 
educational examinations, and proper terms of apprenticeship, before 
entering any school, or else to serve a term of years at some school 
authorised by the said head college. Every school would be per¬ 
fectly independent as regards the actual arrangements, &c., just as 
they are now. Another thing, it would do away with a great deal 
of that ill feeling which at present exists. 
There has been a good deal said about Prof. Dick’s munificent 
bequest, as one great reason why Scotland should have a Charter of 
her own. Now, really (though acknowledging at the same time the 
noble bequest), I cannot see how it should influence the matter, or 
why it should be brought forward in the argument, as I am sure it 
