ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 10 9 
At a meeting held on January 8th, 1879, for “the first ex¬ 
amination/’ 9 passed, and 3 were rejected. 
At a meeting on the 9th of January, 4 passed their “ first 
examination/’ and 3 were rejected. 
The President said he had put a notice on the paper about 
the instructions to examiners. At present no definite instruc¬ 
tions had been given to them. The conventional rule was that 
five “ Good ” entitled the candidate to “ very great credit/’ and 
four “ Good” and one “ Moderate ” to “ great credit;"” while 
five “Sufficient” enabled him to pass. His feeling was that 
“ Sufficient ” meant “ Sufficient” and no more than “Sufficient/’ 
that therefore one mark below “ Sufficient 33 should reject a 
candidate, unless on one or more other subjects he had got 
a “Good.” It would run in this way:—Four “Sufficients” 
and one “Indifferent” reject; three “Sufficients,” one “Good,” 
and one “ Indifferent,” pass. Surely the meaning of “ Suffi¬ 
cient 33 was that it was no more than sufficient. Any mark 
that went below that, unless it was qualified by some higher 
mark on some other subject, ought to reject. They were all in 
favour of having more strict examinations every year, and he 
thought the council should give instructions that anything less 
than five “ Sufficients 33 should reject a man, unless qualified by 
a higher mark. 
Professor Williams said he agreed with the President, but at 
the same time he saw a difficulty. A man might make two or 
three “ Good 33 marks, and some “ Sufficient/’ and would be 
marked “ Bad,” and how to deal with such a case was a matter 
of some difficulty. Suppose a man had one good, or one very 
good, a “ Bad ” mark would neutralise the “ very good ” and 
bring it down to “ Sufficienttherefore he saw some difficulty 
in the matter. 
The President. —You mean not that you see any difficulty in 
what I suggest, but that it should be carried somewhat further? 
Professor Williams. —Yes. 
Professor Brown said it occurred to him that there would 
always be a difficulty in giving the examiners instructions for 
their guidance. If what the President suggested could be 
carried out, there would be no difficulty about it; but if they 
went beyond that there would be no end of difficulty. 
Mr. Collins suggested that so many marks should be given in 
each class and each division, so that a certain gross number 
would not let him fall below a certain number on any particular 
subject. 
Mr. Greaves said it always appeared to him that different 
subjects should be valued at different rates. 
Professor Williams suggested the appointment of a committee 
