24 PROCEEDIXGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 



gnano is now so variable, I think the agriculturist would do well to get a separate 

 analysis with every new sample. Only one case of suspected poisoning has recently 

 occurred, and the stomach in this case was found to contain lead. 



Professor Dewar then said that, if it was in order, he would reply to some statements 

 made by Mr Milne Home. 



The Chairman said it was not in order. 



The Transactions.— Mr Irvine of Drum gave in the report on the "Transactions," 

 and laid on the table volume VII. of the Fourth Series of the Society's Transactions. 

 He said that, in accordance with the suggestions contained in a report on the chemical 

 department and agricultural education, approved of at last General Meeting, the free issue 

 to members which was commenced in 1866 ceased with this volume, and that members 

 desirous of having the Transactions in future would be charged cost price. 



The report was adopted. 



Veterinary Department. — Captain Tod of Howden said — I have to report that th 

 annual public examinations for the Society's veterinary certificate took place on the 

 12tli, 1.3th, and 14th April, when forty students presented themselves for examination, 

 and that thirty-two passed. As the names have already appeared in the newspapers, 

 it is unnecess.iry to report them on this occasion. Besides the usual silver medals 

 given to the three veterinary colleges in Scotland for best class examination on the 

 various branches taught in the schools, two medium gold medals were given to the 

 students who passed the best practical and best general examination. These medals 

 were awarded respectively to— 1. Mr W. MacGwire, Dublin; 2. Mr Israel Print, Wol- 

 ford, Warwickshire. 



The report was adopted. 



The Hon. G. Waldegrave Leslie then moved— "That it be referred to the Directors 

 of this Societv to consider the propriety of granting a sum of L.lOO for five years to the 

 fund proposed to be raised by Lord Calthorpe for improving and maintaining a proper 

 supply of horses in Scotland, and also of organising a mode of receiving donations or 

 subscriptions from private individuals or companies in aid of the ]nn-poses of Lord 

 Calthorpe's scheme as regards Scotland." He was authorised to say that if private 

 contributions were received, the Baroness Burdett Coutts, who had distinguished 

 herself in the cause of humanity to animals, would give L.lOO towards the object in 

 view. 



Colonel Anstrutheb Thomson seconded the motion ; which was unanimously agreed 

 to. 



Ordnance Survey.— Mr Walker of Bowland laid on the table copies of the 

 memorial to the Treasury in regard to the Ordnance Survey. The concluding part of 

 the memorial was as follows: — "That your memorialists feel bound to protest in the 

 strongest terms a?ainst the determination of the Board of Works to postpone the 

 replotting of tlie plans of the counties of Edinburgh, Fife, Haddington, Wigtown, and 

 Kirkcudbright upon the 1-2500 scale. The amount of work which it proposed to 

 postpone (the replotting of land already surveyed) is comparatively small. It is esti- 

 mated that L.50,()00 would cover what remains to be done. It also happens that 

 although the area thus affected is comparatively small in e.xtent, it comprises the 

 suburbs of Edinburgh, and the thickly-inhabited districts of the counties of Fife, Edin- 

 burgh, and Haddington, with their numennis mining villages— an area in which this 

 demand for 1-2500 plans will be large, and where their publication is anxiously looked 

 for. That your memorialists do not consider they have any right to ask the Treasury 

 to increase the annual Parliamentary grant for the purposes of the Survey, but in their 

 position their dutv is to urge the allotments of a fair share of the Parliamentary 

 grant towards the publication of the Scotch plans until the completion of the work. This 

 they have a right to expect, and they regret the necessity they lie under of agam 

 memorialising the Treasury against the interruption of the publication of the plans of 

 Scotland. After the termination of the former correspondence upon the Scotch sui-vey 

 in 1846, your memorialists had hoped that the work would not have been again 

 interrupted. " 



Steam Cultivation.— IMr Swinton, Holynbank, gave in the following report an 

 steam cultiv.ation:— " I have to report that, in terms of the remit from the last General 

 Meeting, the special committee on steam cultivation has been added to the list of the 

 standing committees of the Society. At a meeting on the 31st March the committee 

 took into consideration (1) the motion by the Hon. George Waldegrave Leslie at the 

 last General Meeting relative to the committee receiving reports from those members|of 

 the Society who employ steam cultivation, and recommending rewards or medals as 

 encouragement for decided improvements in the method of cheapness of using .steant 

 power for cultivation ; and (2) a proposal by Mr Glennie, Fernyflatt, to offer premnmis 

 lor the encouragement of steam cultivation in Scotland. After careful consideration, 

 the committee "reported that thev were not prepared to recommend that the Society- 

 should offer premiums, but that the Directors might intimate that they are willing to 

 receive from farmers and others employing steam-nower in the cultivation of the 



