150 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE VETERINARY DEPARTMENT OF 



interval of two years, I have to express my extreme regret that 

 circumstances should have prevented me from performing 

 duties which, however inadequately accomplished on former 

 occasions by me, were always to myself a source of pleasure and 

 satisfaction. I do not know in what terms to express my obliga- 

 tions to Captain Falconar, who has taken my place here for two 

 years past, and during the examinations on the present occasion, 

 I woukl only express a hope that I may be able in future to 

 fulfil in a satisfactory manner those duties which he has so 

 fully and efficiently accomplished. The interest which attaches 

 to these examinations depends upon the great public importance 

 of veterinary knowledge. I am not quite sure that the British 

 public is so fully alive as it should be to the great economic 

 value of veterinary science, and the extreme importance of sound 

 veterinary education. The peculiar genius of the British con- 

 stitution leaves this, like many other important matters, to 

 individual and corporate energy. As a necessary consequence, 

 our British Veterinary Schools, however sound and scientific the 

 information may be which is disseminated by means of them, 

 have not that imposing aspect to the public which the kindred 

 institutions on the Continent, endowed and organised by their 

 respective Governments, usually present, I allude to this 

 matter merely as an illustration of the great national value of 

 good veterinary schools, and of the importance of bringing that 

 value fairly under the notice of the general public. If I may 

 be permitted to indulge in a little national feeling in reference 

 to a matter which is not national but cosmopolitan, I would 

 observe that in Scotland we have considerable ground for 

 gratification in the possession of a Veterinary School, which, 

 founded and carried forward by Professor Dick, has secured the 

 approbation and co-operation of the Highland Society, a 

 sufficient guarantee to the public that the object which the 

 school has in view is one of national imj)ortance. It will be my 

 duty, as Ctiairman of their Veterinary Committee, to report to 

 the Highland Society the result of these two days' examinations ; 

 and it affords me much pleasure and satisfaction that I shall be 

 able to record the continued efficiency of the establishment, and 

 the excellent apj)earance made by the successful candidates for 

 the certificate. I cannot allude to these matters on the present 

 occasion without recollecting the difficulties Professor Dick has 

 had to encounter during the session now concluded. It is 

 painful on an occasion like the present to allude to the great 

 loss this school has sustained in the death of Mr Barlow. 

 Almost all of us, as his personal friends or pupils, knew him so 

 well, that I may be permitted merely to observe that I believe 

 the loss of such a man is not only felt in the school of which 

 he was a teacher, but that his profession generally deplores the 



