858 LIVERPOOL VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
the high honour to call the society again into existence. I can compare 
that calm and silent repose like unto the powers of a great nation for a 
time laid aside—the sleep of the warrior, snatched during the interval 
of action—a repose but to acquire fresh power and energy—the sleep 
of a child, but the awakening of a giant. The society is now two years 
old, and looks like a cedar of Lebanon planted by the river of Jordan. 
Its roots strike deeper and deeper, and its wide-spreading branches 
shoot up higher and higher. It can now shelter and protect those 
who reared it, and who now meet under the most favorable aus¬ 
pices ; for our Association is a firmly established institution, acknow¬ 
ledged and encouraged by the professors and the colleges. Each 
member is animated by a desire to advance the usefulness of our 
noble profession. It encourages a personal goodwill, and we feel 
individually fully conscious of the good fruits of thus associating 
together. Emulation having been excited, the progress we have 
made encourages us, nay, demands from us greater efforts and 
greater intelligence. Every educated person who studies the times 
in which he lives, and wishes earnestly to further the mission he 
has to perform, feels a new stimulus in these associations, for they 
undoubtedly exert an influence, unperceived by us at present, per¬ 
haps, but which nevertheless is doing good. The Providence which 
governs this world creates nowhere success or prosperity for an 
ignorant, indolent, individual society or nation, and we may be 
assured that the highest interests of our profession and of its 
individual members are identical. It is a dangerous symptom 
when man becomes indifferent to the interest and welfare of his 
fellow-man ; it is only ignorance and cupidity which prevent their 
uniting to the common advantage of both. To dispel that igno¬ 
rance, and to show how advantageously to himself man can help 
man, in the present state of civilised society, should be the aim of 
every philanthropic person. We must remember, gentlemen, that 
friendship is a tender, fragile plant, which can live only where it is 
reciprocated. Our day of opportunity will soon be passed, and we 
ought to take advantage of it, whilst it is here, to stimulate each 
other to individual exertion. If we desire to make any consider¬ 
able progress in our profession, we should remember that no human 
pursuit makes any material progress until science, quickened by a 
stimulating intelligence, has been brought to bear upon it; then 
indeed, although it may have been slumbering for ages, at the 
touch of her magic wand it advances with strides which amaze and 
almost awe the beholder. Is it too much, my friends, to anticipate 
such a future for our own profession, as the result of united 
concentrated effort ? Let us, I beg of you, discontinue our icy 
bearing towards each other, and henceforth treat one another with 
kindness, gentleness, and charitableness. Do not discourage us, 
do not frown upon us; remember that an unkind word of 
criticism may have the same effect upon us as a cold blast, which, 
passing over some tender shoot, shrivels it up, and checks the flow 
of the sap, which was rising to produce abundance of flowers and 
fruit. 
