THE HIGHLAND AND AGKICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 171 



students generally made a good appearance in tliis department. 

 The number of students who presented themselves at the 

 examinations, which were held on the 19th and 20th April, was 

 thirty-six, and thirty-one were successful. 



At the close of the examinations, Mr F. N. Menzies 

 stated that the students, taken as a wliole, were of a superior 

 class to any that had been at the College, and this was an 

 improvement in the veterinary element which augured well for 

 the good of agriculturists when these young men came to be 

 scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land. No- 

 thing could be more important to agriculturists in these days of 

 stock-breeding than to have skilful veterinary surgeons. 



The examinations were this session open for the first time to 

 the students of any veterinary college established under Her 

 Majesty's sign manual. 



During this and the subsequent session much interest was 

 manifested in regard to the Charlier system of shoeing horses. 

 Full reports of the Society's proceedings on the subject will be 

 found in Volume III. of the Fourth Series of the Society's 

 Transactions. 



Forty-eigMh Session, 1870-71. 



Professor William Edwin Duns, who held the Chair of Cattle 

 Pathology, established by the Society in 1867, died on the 

 26th of February 1871, to the great loss of the Society and the 

 profession. 



There were over ninety students attending the College during 

 the Session 1870-71, and out of the thirty-six who came for 

 examination, on the 10th, 11th, and 12th April, twenty-seven 

 passed. 



The students were subjected to a careful and searching 

 clinical examination, each candidate having to examine and 

 report in writing on three horses, and afterwards, in the slaughter- 

 houses, being tested in their knowledge of cattle diseases by 

 examination both of living and dead subjects. This examina- 

 tion of healthy and diseased suljjects was a new and important 

 feature in the examination of this session. Clinical examinations, 

 first inaugurated four years ago at the Edinburgh Veterinary 

 College, are now recognised and approved of alike by the High- 

 land Society and by the profession at large, and were also this 

 year adopted by the examiners for the Eoyal College of 

 Veterinary Surgeons. To students, professors, and the public, 

 these clinical examinations have proved a great boon, as they 

 stimulate practical tuition, ensure careful clinical study, and 

 effectually prepare them to undertake the responsible and im- 

 portant duties of their vocation. 



