PRACTICAL VETERINARY SCIENCE. 
723 
than concentrate its energies upon a thorough investigation 
of the question which the man’s whole life is to he employed 
upon. There is another objection, too, viz., that the most 
eventful and receptive period of the man’s life has been 
occupied in obtaining this extraneous or extravagant know¬ 
ledge to the exclusion of that which would be familiarizing 
(acclimatizing him if I may so speak) with the nature and 
habits of the animals whose maladies he will have to treat, 
and as a necessary consequence he goes into the sick-box, 
even after he has got his diploma, a comparative stranger 
both to his work and to his patient. 
The conclusions I have arrived at are that a very high and 
classical education is not only superfluous hut often pre¬ 
judicial ; that its possessors will never beat the empiric out 
of the field because they are so frequently found to commit 
such egregious blunders as to bring down upon the profession 
both ridicule and contempt. Such blunders, bear in mind, 
are looked upon as more unpardonable than if they were 
committed by uneducated men ; hence the greater derision 
and disgrace. 
But in all correctness I say let those who enter the profes¬ 
sion have a good and substantial education. The Council 
and the Colleges will not rest satisfied, I hope, until inde¬ 
pendent boards, composed of the members of the College of 
Preceptors, are established at each college for the purpose of 
testing on a uniform system the extent of the knowledge of 
those who are about to enter on the study of the profession. 
Of course youths, already possessing a degree or certificate 
from some recognized college or school, setting forth that 
they have passed a satisfactory examination in general educa¬ 
tion, will be exempt from such examination. No time should 
be lost in effecting this, so that henceforth there will not be 
a single student permitted to enter any of the colleges unless 
he possesses a sound and satisfactory education. 
In my next I purpose to examine the utility of three or 
more sessions being spent at college, and also the importance 
of an Act of Parliament to protect the interests of the pro¬ 
fession, concluding my observations by pointing out what I 
consider to be the only remedy. 
