514 
THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
ments, havin'g myself served an apprenticeship, and had 
three sessions at College (as a matter of choice, not of neces¬ 
sity). before presenting myself for examination. Nor do I find 
fault with those gentlemen who constitute the Council of our 
College for their attempts to introduce a higher standard of 
education (although, in passing, I would beg to suggest the 
propriety of putting their new system in force on some of the 
examiners themselves, as a good many of their pathological 
ideas are somewhat musty, and scarcely in keeping with the 
advanced teaching of the schools) ; as I do think that some¬ 
thing might have been done, in the way indicated, at the 
meeting. It seems to me that the dominant ideas prevailing 
in the minds of the Council, as embodied in their annual 
report, are how to lengthen the curriculum, increase the 
income of the colleges, watch jealously any attempts at im¬ 
provement in the shape of a new charter or renovation of the 
old, and show a good balance on the creditor side of the 
annual sheet. 
These are all very good in their way within legitimate 
bounds, hut are not all that is exactly needed—indeed, im¬ 
peratively demanded—at the present time ; nor are they the 
only subjects which the members of the profession have a 
right to expect should occupy the whole attention of such 
a meeting as the one assembled in Red Lion Square on the 
3rd of May last to legislate for tlin whole of the veterinary 
profession. 
Education, in whatever form, assuredlv briims its own 
reward, and, no doubt, there is room for improvement in the 
way indicated ; but 1 do not think that, although the higher 
standard were reached, it will arrest the growth or cure the 
distemper that at present hangs over us like an incubus, 
namely, the great obstacle to a better recognition by the 
public of our profession. 
As a proof of the validity of this assertion, that a higher 
standard of professional training will not remove the evil 
complained ot,” 1 would beg to ask, M^hy do we find quackery 
so rampant and successful, even under the shadow of the 
colleges themselves ? Is it not a notorious fact that in 
Edinburgh the quacks muster strongly, and seem to thrive 
well? 1 can assert, from personal knowledge, that even 
under the shadow of the British House of Commons quackery 
is as rampant as anywhere else througliout these islands, 
and within the sound of the great bell of St. Paul’s there 
are quacks netting their hundreds a year from businesses 
that many a newly fledged member might envy. In many 
remote districts quacks, in this country seem to possess 
