GLASGOW VETERINARY COLLEGE, 
8 77 
in a month than he could of old have learned in a long life. Do not, 
however, allow the habit of rea ling to supersede that of practice and 
observation. He who knows his profession by books only, runs the risk 
of being a mere dilettante theorist. A theoretical veterinarian, like a 
theoretical lawyer, is a most dangerous member of the community. 
Science is as helpless without art as art is without science. Though I 
should read up so as to pass a creditable examination, yet should I 
certainly fail if I attempted to perform the simplest operation which an 
ordinary farrier would execute with instinctive ease. Some of you may 
be defective in those preparatory acquirements without which you will 
always find yourselves handicapped in your professional career. Among 
them may be mentioned a knowledge of Latin and French. There is no 
great difficulty in acquiring a knowledge of both sufficient for your 
purpose, provided only you devote an hour or two daily to their acqui¬ 
sition for a sufficient length of time. The difficulty is to make a begin¬ 
ning. But observe this, that the longer you delay the more difficult 
will it become, until at last you will neither have the inclination nor the 
aptitude for such studies. Only get over the initial stages while yet 
young, and you will find that in your leisure hours afterwards you may 
insensibly push such studies to any extent you may desire. The same 
is true of mathematics and kindred sciences. In the initial stages only 
is the difficulty felt. Lay the foundation while yet young. The super¬ 
structure may afterwards be easily raised. 8ome of you are come from 
the country, and are probably for the first time exposed to the temp¬ 
tations and the distractions of a large and populous city. That the 
dangers of these are great—very great—cannot be denied. It is painful 
to think how many young men of promise, from whose exertions science 
might have gained much, are thus annually lost, or form habits that 
eventually lead to ruin. As a guard against such disastrous results, I 
would counsel you to hold fast by those religious sentiments which you 
have received in your early homes. Such impressions are always the 
most valuable treasures we inherit. I would not inculcate asceticism, 
yet it is well to remember the apostolic precept, “ Avoid the very 
appearance of evil.” It is also well for youth rather to flee temptation 
than to trust to resisting it when exposed to its power. One important 
advice given by the ancients, and fully approved in modern times, is to 
make sure to a certain amount of physical exercise every day. Hot only 
does this preserve mens sanci in corpore sano , but it indirectly promotes 
regular living by sending a man early to bed. I do not mean that you 
should cultivate athletics, which often do more harm than good, but that 
by walking and the like you should take as much exercise in the open 
air as shalt keep you in good condition for mental labour. It is well 
always to bear in mind that, as young men of the present day, you are 
in reality the heirs of all the ages that have preceded you. All that 
science has with untold efforts and struggles secured now lies before you 
to acquire, by simply making it your own. By the accumulated efforts 
of those who have gone before you, you stand on a vantage ground such 
as the greater scientists of the past never possessed. The wealth of a 
Roman emperor could not have procured for him that scientific teaching 
that is now spread before you. For this rich inheritance that is be¬ 
queathed you from them into whose labours you enter, some return is 
due by you to the future. And that return can only be made by 
strenuous exertions on your part to add still more to the stores of 
learning that will fall to those who come after you. Every school of 
learning depends for its celebrity not only on the abilities of its teaching 
staff, but on the application, the loyalty, and the enthusiasm of its 
