THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 189 



The Society, believing that the veterinary profession is opposed 

 to a National Charter being granted for the profession in Scot- 

 land, have just signed articles of agreement with the Eoyal 

 College of Veterinary Surgeons (see Appendix B, page 15) with the 

 ^-iew of the admission of holders of the Society's Veterinary Cer- 

 tificate as members of the Eoyal College, on payment of certain 

 fees, without being required to submit to any further examination ; 

 also for the purpose of terminating the examinations heretofore held 

 by the Society. Whether the suspension of the Society's examin- 

 ations may turn out disadvantageous to Scotland and the veteri- 

 nary profession, remains to be proved ; but under the circum- 

 stances, the Society considered it impossible to continue to grant 

 certificates. 



The reasons which induced the Highland Society to re- 

 constitute its Board of Examiners in 1848 were thus referred 

 to on a subsequent occasion by the late Dr George Wilson, Pro- 

 fessor of Technology in the University of Edinburgh : — " In the 

 year he (Dr George Wilson) joined the Edinburgh Veterinary 

 College, the Highland Society had just ceased to grant certificates, 

 and a Board was sent down from London to examine the students. 

 He was present at the first examination by that Board, and he 

 would say this, that the examination was carried on in the most 

 offensive way in every respect, so that any temptation which 

 might formerly exist on the part of Professor Dick, and the 

 friends of the Veterinary College, to give in to the London 

 people, was certainly removed by the tone and style of treatment 

 he received from the parties who came down from London. Far 

 be it from him to say that that was an inseparable concomitant 

 of London Boards, but so it was in this case. The truth was, 

 that a march was stolen on the Highland Society, and after get- 

 ting the new Charter, no proper appreciation was shown by the 

 London Boards, either of the claims of this great Society, or of tb.e 

 claims of the Edinburgh Veterinary College, or of Professor Dick. 

 In the new arrangements that were made, that College was 

 practically ignored, or treated as beginning from the time the 

 English arrangements commenced, and was simply allowed to 

 come in as a second-rate provincial College, under the control of 

 the London Board." 



In closing this narrative of the Veterinary Department of the 

 Highland Society, it only remains to be observed that, liy the 

 decision of the Privy Council, the monopoly of granting veterinary 

 diplomas for all parts of the United Kingdom remains in the hands 

 of the Eoyal College of Veterinary Surgeons ; and that the Colleges 

 in Scotland, which have been so productive of good in the past, 

 must henceforth be under the authority of an English Council. 



