“ VETERINARY PROGRESS. J ’ 255 
mental Charter now being obtained to enable us to carry 
this agreement out, and thus realising the grand idea, a 
consummation so devoutly to be wished for, viz. an united 
'profession. 
These ten subjects are a few of the measures which have 
been worked out by the Council of the Royal College of 
Veterinary Surgeons. Several of them were ripe for carry¬ 
ing when our present noble and worthy President came 
upon the scene, and by his influence and admirable business 
tact, have been carried irresistibly to a successful issue. I 
could not expatiate upon the great good which must accrue 
from each of them separately, but I feel sure it must be self- 
evident to every member of my profession that most of these 
measures I have earnestly advocated in my writings, my 
addresses, and my votes for the last twenty or thirty years. 
Although much has been done, “ there is still more work to 
do.” We are now an united body. We have no body of 
men antagonistic to us. We can now apply to Parliament 
for an Act, and in that Act we can ensure for ourselves all 
that we can reasonably desire. 
What does the Profession require? 
In the proposed Act of Parliament I suggest that we 
stipulate for four things:—1st. The penal clause. 2nd. 
The apprenticeship clause. 3rd. The preliminary or matri- 
culatory examination of the student to be placed in the hands 
of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons instead of, as 
now, in the hands of each teaching school. 4th. The Court 
of Examiners to be composed of veterinary surgeons only. 
The Penal Clause .—This clause, it must be understood, 
cannot be obtained in a charter. A charter is a legal docu¬ 
ment granted by tbe Queen and her ministers, not by Par¬ 
liament. The Queen has not the power by the Constitution 
of England to inflict a fine, not even half-a-crown, on any 
one of her subjects. The clause in an Act of Parliament 
would give a magistrate the power to inflict a fine or im¬ 
prisonment on any person using the name or title of veteri¬ 
nary surgeon, unless such person possessed the diploma of 
the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The fine would 
be fixed by the Act, probably £5 or £10 for each offence, but 
it must not be misunderstood. Such person is not in the 
least precluded from practising by this penal clause. Re 
can call himself by some other title, and if he is a shrewd 
and clever man, can and will command more or less practice, 
and in some cases will continue, as he does now, to deprive 
the qualified man of more or less income, and in some cases 
