INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
7 59 
have enough knowledge to enable you to acquit yourselves to 
the satisfaction of your teachers, and obtain from them the 
certificate of admission to the Court of Examiners of the 
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for your final examina¬ 
tion for the diploma of the College; and we trust that before 
that body success will crown your efforts, and that you will 
be admitted into the ranks of the incorporated members of 
the veterinary profession. 
I am happy to be able to proclaim the prosperity of this 
institution—our Alma Mater of veterinary seience and art in 
this country. In regard to the number of students, our 
average of late years has been higher than heretofore, and 
our scholastic forces greater than they were, for whereas for 
many years we had but two teachers to supply the exigencies 
of the class, we now have five. The patients in tbe infirmary 
have also increased fourfold, hence the opportunities of prac¬ 
tical observation are quadrupled. Nor does this happy state 
of things end here, for our subscribers and general re¬ 
sources are not only steadily but considerably on the increase. 
In view of this our prosperity we are adding greatly to the 
College buildings. We think, therefore, that as students of to¬ 
day you will find yourselves possessing far greater advantages 
than those who years ago occupied the same benches which 
are now fdled by you. 
For many years past the College has been intimately asso¬ 
ciated with the English Agricultural Society, and every 
effort has been made to meet the wishes of the council of that 
body. The alliance of that society with the College represents 
the inevitable relation which subsists between the live stock 
of the country and the arts and sciences that have for their 
object the health, condition, and improvement of that 
stock. 
It gives me pleasure also to record that this institution has 
recently received a legacy of £ 21, bequeathed to it by the 
late B. Botfield, Esq., M.P. for Ludlow. Besides this it has 
been publicly announced through the papers, under the head 
of “ Wills and Bequests, - ” although as yet the governors have 
received no official notification of it, that the late Captain 
Randall, of Tooting, w ho for many years attended the lectures 
at the College as an amateur student, has left to the College 
the handsome legacy of .61000. 
Gentlemen, throughout my remarks I have considered the 
various topics brought before you in a general way, because 
it is the business of the first day of a new term for the lecturer 
rather to inculcate the right spirit into the class of students 
than to dwell upon any details of their studies. And now I 
