736 
QUALIFIED AND UNQUALIFIED PRACTITIONERS. 
men, seeing that practice varies so much according to loca¬ 
lity and other circumstances that Ave require as many various 
classes of practitioners to undertake all the arduous duties 
belonging to the profession; and, I trust, some such resolu¬ 
tion will he shortly put in force that we may observe how 
many of these outsiders (who from sheer envy are constantly 
condemning qualified men as mere theorists, and bragging 
of their own practical knowledge) will avail themselves of 
the advantage,—while it would he a positive boon to many 
respectable men who have passed their two or three sessions 
at college, and been from various causes rejected, or have not 
had confidence to oifer themselves for examination, and who, 
we many of us know, are more competent to practice the 
veterinary art than many who now disgrace it. When this 
has been done we can go with a good grace to Parliament 
and ask for that which will not he a second time denied, as 
then no hardship will exist to a respectable class of men as 
heretofore, as those who fail to avail themselves of the oppor¬ 
tunity offered in that way will stand self-condemned, and no 
longer he even recognised by the public as belonging to the 
profession, and those who may still employ them will do so 
with their eyes open to the facts. That Parliament is dis¬ 
posed to recognise members only is evident from the fact of 
the wording of one of the clauses in the Pharmaceutical 
Act lately passed, which exempts members of the Royal 
College of Veterinary Surgeons from the penalties attaching 
to non-qualified men. Much has lately been said with regard 
to inducing gentlemen to join the profession with a classical 
education, as a basis. I will ask, is it desirable in any other 
point of view than their being intended for army vets., 
where we know a farrier is kept to dispense their medicines 
and do their work ? and perhaps, in after life, to settle down 
in some town with ‘‘Veterinary Surgeon ” on his door plate. I 
think some of us know a few of the kind, but we do not find 
them engaged in active practice, and throwing any new light 
on subjects connected with the profession; but if we take up 
some of our sporting journals, we find the knowledge they 
have acquired venting itself in a special column for the edifi¬ 
cation of people who like a little amateur doctoring on their 
own account, and likewise instructing their grooms in the 
various mysteries connected with horses, dogs, &c.; and it is 
really amusing to find recipes from “Clater” given occa¬ 
sionally. The above facts, 1 think, go far to prove what the 
late Mr. Hawthorn, of Kettering, used to assert so often,— 
that there may be such a thing as “ too much science ” im¬ 
ported into our every day transactions,—as it is notorious that 
