LANCASHIRE VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 245 
humble individual who has now the honour of addressing you, has like¬ 
wise, on many occasions, used his voice and his vote at that same council 
table. At the fifteenth annual meeting of the profession, on the 2nd of May, 
1859, he had the honour to preside over that meeting. It has long been 
my opinion—and I am not alone in that opinion—that our present 
charter is defective, and at that time I suggested in a letter to our present 
president of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons that new powers 
should be applied for. I proposed to contribute £50 as my share for that 
purpose, and I find the council are now applying to Parliament for new 
powers. I hold in my hand a very kind letter received the other day 
from the president of the lloyal College of Veterinary Surgeons, explain¬ 
ing the object they now seek, and let me tell you, gentlemen, there is 
plenty of work yet to be done. There is work for each and all of us to 
do, and I wish to ask you this question to-night. Is Manchester, that 
stands so proudly forward in every other question, to occupy a place in 
the van or in the rear as regards veterinary politics ? Do you say in the 
van ? Then you must work to render her worthy of that distinction. 
Do you say you have not time ? well, let me tell you plainly, this excuse 
will not bear investigation. It would be less correct to say our innate 
love of ease and indolence induces us to spend our time uselessly, 
absolutely uselessly, if not worse. We find a vast majority of mankind, 
from the beginning of the world to the present time, allow their mental 
faculties and the higher capabilities of their moral and religious feelings 
to lie dormant and unemployed. But I am proud to know we have many 
instances of gentlemen in our city who add lustre and honour to our city 
and to our common profession. We have in our midst to-night a gentle¬ 
man who has distinguished himself as a bold thinker and a bold writer; 
and when we witness our ex-president leaving his extensive practice and 
going up to London to the meetings of the council seven times in the year, 
and to Edinburgh once or twice a year, to exercise the judgment necessary 
for an examination ; travelling- a distance of over 3720 miles yearly at an 
expense of over £30 for railway fare alone, to say nothing about his loss of 
time, time which you know must be to him of far greater value and import¬ 
ance than money ; for all this, I say, we are under a deep debt of gratitude 
to that gentleman, and I feel I must laud him for his zeal, and for those 
sacrifices he has so nobly, so generously, and so praiseworthily for so many 
years laid upon the altar of veterinary science. I will give you another 
particular instance, as illustrating “ where there is a will there is a way.” 
Eleven years ago our respected ex-treasurer, Mr. Peter Taylor (I make 
this allusion with every feeling of respect, and I know he will pardon me 
for doing so), sent me a note, bearing date 14th March, 1853, excus¬ 
ing himself from attending our veterinary meetings, on the ground that 
his time was fully occupied. Well, since then his business has increased 
considerably; he stands higher and deservedly higher in the estimation of 
the public of Manchester, and added to this, the claims upon his time in his 
domestic circle are much greater now than then, still, paradoxical as it 
may seem, he can now find time to attend these meetings, and attend 
them too more punctually than any other member, and he has proved 
himself a better member, a more useful working member than any other 
without a single exception. The very excellent essay he has compiled 
and read before us, has done him infinite credit; it is of itself a work of 
no light importance, and at once establishes his claim upon our gratitude 
and our admiration. With these noble examples before us, it will be seen 
that it only wants the heart in the cause, and there will always be found 
a way to accomplish great results. In our daily life, on taking a cursory 
view of human nature, we see many things calculated to perplex and em- 
