28 PROCEEDINGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 



it was agreed, after consulting the Town Council Veterinary Committee, 

 that the trustees to be named in the proposed charter should stand as 

 follows : — Three persons elected by the Highland Society ; the Lord Provost 

 and another elected by the Town Council of Edinburgh ; the Lord Provost 

 and another elected by the Town Council of Glasgow ; one person elected by 

 each of the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and St Andrews ; 

 and one person elected by each of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and 

 Surgeons of Edinburgh ; the Principals of Edinburgh and Glasgow Veterinary 

 Colleges, and ten veterinary surgeons — in all, 25. 



Dr Dalzell, Veterinary College, Edinburgh, thought it only respectful to 

 this Society, and in accordance with the wish of the whole veterinary profession 

 in Scotland, that he should return their thanks for the interest the Society had 

 taken in this matter. One objection which had been made to granting the 

 charter was that it had not been called for by the profession. A meeting of 

 veterinarians was accordingly called by circular, and held in 5 St Andrew 

 Square, at which upwards of one hundred members of the profession were 

 represented. He was glad to say that now upwards of 232 signatures had 

 been obtained to the memorial praying for a Scotch charter. About seventy 

 of the signatures were obtained in England and Ireland, but still as it was 

 estimated that the number of veterinarians in Scotland was not over 280, they 

 had thus obtained the signatures of upwards of two-thirds of the veterinary 

 profession. 



Chemical Department. 



Professor Anderson reported his proceedings in the chemical department. 

 He stated that the work done for the Society had been under the average, 

 although a considerable amount of heavy practical work had been accomplished. 

 He had advanced some distance in his investigations into the different sub- 

 stances used for smearing and dipping sheep ; but there was a great deal of 

 detail to be accumulated before he would venture to lay his results before the 

 Society. The general work of the department now included the supervision of 

 the field experiments, and this involved a great deal more work than he had 

 at all anticipated. He had now completed the second series of experiments, 

 and had been anxious to obtain some definite information and advice as to the 

 best mode of conducting these experiments. He had issued a schedule of 

 queries to a number of members of the Society, and was now awaiting the 

 returns. 



Premiums Awarded for Essays and Eeports. 



Mr Irvine of Drum reported the premiums which had been awarded for 

 essays and reports since last general meeting. 



Premiums Offered for Essays and Reports. 



Mr Irvine also announced the premiums for 1868, and stated that it was 

 proposed to vote L.290 for reports on subjects connected with the science and 

 practice of agriculture, L.35 for land improvements, L.50 for agricultural 

 machinery, and L.60 for woods and plantations — in all, L.435. The premiums 

 were approved of. 



Mr Elliot, Laighwood, referred to the representations that had gone abroad, 

 and which he believed were quite unfounded, that a great many of the essays 

 which received prizes were locked up in the drawers of the Society, instead of 

 being published for the use of the public. 



Mr Irvine of Drum said that this had been the fate of very few indeed of 

 the prize essays, and this had only taken place when the matter was felt not 

 to be of such general interest as to warrant publication. He did not believe 

 that L.50 had been spent on essays in twenty-five years which had not been 

 published. 



