186 niSTOIlICAL ACCOUNT OF THE VETERINARY DEPARTMENT OF 



petitioners held that there were grounds of necessity and expe- 

 diency for seeking the proposed Charter. The Eoyal College was 

 virtually an English institution, and had its seat of government 

 in London, and there were many specialities in connection with 

 Scotland which an English college and examiners appointed by 

 it could not be supposed to be so well acquainted with as a 

 governing body resident in Scotland, and their examiners would 

 necessarily be. Under Nos. 10 and 11 the petitioners said Pro- 

 fessor Dick's views as to the necessity of a Veterinary College for 

 Scotland were well known and frequently expressed, and the 

 anxiety of the landed proprietors generally had been manifested 

 by memorials in favour of the proposed Charter which had been 

 presented by every county in Scotland, with the exception of 

 two, in which it happened there were not Michaelmas county 

 meetings. Many of the local agricultural societies had also 

 petitioned, and on the whole, with some trifling difference of 

 opinion in details, on the part of one or two bodies, the country 

 was unanimously in favour of the proposal. 



At the general meeting in June 1868, after reporting the ex- 

 aminations for session 1867-68, Mr Campbell Swinton of Kim- 

 merghame said he had to report upon another matter connected 

 with veterinary science, in regard to which he was sorry to say 

 that they had hitherto met with ill success — he referred to the 

 effort which had been made to obtain a Charter for a General 

 Eoyal Veterinary College in Scotland. The members were aware 

 that, in conjunction with the Lord Provost and Magistrates of 

 Edinburgh, acting as trustees of the Dick College, and also acting 

 in conjunction with other public bodies in that city and else- 

 where, and with a large number of the veterinary surgeons in 

 Scotland, they had made an application to Government asking 

 them to institute a Eoyal Veterinary College, not connected 

 specially with Edinburgh, but to hold the same position which 

 the Veterinary College in England did, and to give diplomas, 

 degrees, and certificates to students attending any veterinary 

 establishment where suitable education was given. He was 

 sorry to say that hitherto their efforts had not been attended with 

 success. Tlie last letter which had been received from the Board 

 of Trade on the subject, which was addressed to their London 

 agent, was dated 15th May, and was as follows : — 



"Council Office, May 15, 1868, 

 *' Sir, — I am directed by the Lords of the Council to inform you that their 

 Lordships have had under their consideration the petition lodged by you at 

 this office on behalf of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 

 and of the trustees of the late Professor Dick, praying for the grant of a 

 Charter of Incorporation to the Eoyal Veterinary College of Scotland, and I 

 am to state that their Lordships, after mature deliberation, find themselve.s 

 unable to recommend Her Majesty to grant the Charter prayed for. — 

 I am, &c. (Signed) Arthur Helps. 



"John Graham, Esq., 3 Westminster Street." 



