the 
VETERINARIAN. 
V °No.443 XVIL NOVEMBER, 1804. 
Fourth Series. 
No. 119. 
Communications and Cases. 
OPENING OF THE SESSION OF THE ROYAL 
VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR SPOONER. 
It is a time-honoured custom to commence the session of 
lectures in this theatre with a few general remarks which 
may serve to introduce new students to the course which 
they have to follow, and to impress the old as well as the 
new students with their duties and responsibilities both to 
themselves, to the institution which affords them its best in¬ 
struction, and to the profession which many, if not all of 
them, we hope, will one day adorn. Although these in¬ 
augural addresses are so frequently repeated, yet does it seem 
that there is something fresh to be said to each succeeding 
generation of students, something that grows out of the pro¬ 
gress of the age, or, as we may say, out of the advancing 
necessities of the time; for we live in a very “-fast” period 
of the world’s history. The word “ fast” has different inter¬ 
pretations. In one sense, it means a recklessness of health, 
pocket, reputation, and appearances; and to a youth with 
this spirit within him, all those who are doing their work 
painstakingly, prosecuting their studies persistently, valuing 
their hours, lengthening their days, and limiting their appe¬ 
tites, are contemptuously looked upon as plodders. But this 
is only the bad and false sense of the word, for the persons 
comprehended under it are generally slow in all the grave 
business of life ; slow in work, slow in study, slow in acquire- 
xxxvii, 48 
