14 PEOCEEDINGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 



Mr Milne Home said he quite agreed that there must be a chemical head to the 

 experimental stations. All he said was that they should not malce the appointment 

 till they had the xjrospect of carrying on the experimental stations, and the money for 

 carrying them on. 



MrC. J. Mackenzie said that the Directors would take care that the chemist would 

 not be appointed till there was sufficient work for him to do. 



Mr Milne Home asked if that limitation would be fixed upon in leaving the matter 

 in the hands of the Directors. 



Mr C. J. Mackeznie said he did not think it was right to fix down the Directors 

 as was proposed by Mr ^lilne Home ; but he did not hesitate to say that it was their 

 intention to carry out what he had mentioned. 



My 3I1LNE Home said he would agree to what had been proposed, taking into 

 account the statement by Mr Mackenzie. 

 Tlie motion by ]Mr Mackenzie was then unanimously agreed to. 

 The Celtic Chair. — The Secretary read the following petition from Professor 

 Blackie : — 



" College, 2iih May. 

 "■ To the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland — 

 " The Petition of John Stuart Blackie, Professor of Greek in the University 



of Edinbui-gh. 

 '^ The Directors of the Highland Society are doubtless aware from the public prints 

 that a scheme has been put forth for the erection of a Celtic Chair in the University 

 of Edinburgh, which has received the support of Her I\Iost Gracious Majesty the 

 Queen, of his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, his Grace of Argyll, his Grace of Suther- 

 land, the IMost Noble the Marquis of Bute, and other distinguished members of the 

 aristocracy ; also of many of the most distinguished scholars in England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland ; not less of the whole Gaelic people both at home and in the Colonies, as the 

 papers herewith sent will sufficiently show. It seems therefore only natural, and 

 would certainly be both popular and politic, that the Highland Society of Scotland, 

 following up the example early set by the publication of the Scoto-Celtic Dictionary 

 under their auspices, should not be absent in the roll of those who have so nobly come 

 forward to aid this patriotic undertaking. The Directors will observe that the pro- 

 fessorship is not confined to the Celtic literature of the Scottish Highlands, but includes 

 Irish, Welsh, Manx, and Armenian, and is intended to secure that there shall always 

 be in the Metropolitan University of Scotland a scholar capable to expound scientifi- 

 cally the earliest records of British history, and to enable Scotland to take the place in. 

 the growing science of comparative philology, which her possession of a large Celtic 

 population seems to call upon her to resume. The Sanscrit Chair, some years ago 

 created by the liberal intelligence of Dr John Muir, only requires to be supplemented 

 by the chair of Celtic and a chair of Romanesque languages, to make Edinburgh the 

 most completely equipped philological school in Britain. Hoping that the High- 

 land Society will look favourably on the scheme of the University as one in which they 

 have a special interest, — I have the honour to be, your most obedient, 



(Signed) '• John S. Blackie." 



The Chairman said that a similar application had been twice before the Directors, 

 and they did not on either of these occasions see their way to acquiesce in making any 

 grant. Since a third application had been brought before them, the Directors thought 

 that the best course to adopt would be to submit the petition to this General Meeting 

 for its decision. 



The Hon. George Waldegrave Leslie— Is the object of this petition embraced 

 within the charters of the Society ? 



The Chairman— There is no mention in the charters of anything of the kind, but in 

 the original regulations of the Society there was an allusion to Celtic literature. 



The Secretary said that in the regulations of 1784 it was set forth that the objects 

 of this Society shall be — (1) An enquiry into the present state of the Highlands and 

 Islands of Scotland and the condition of their inhabitants ; (2) an enquiry into the 

 means of their improvement by establishing towns and villages, by facilitating com- 

 raimication through different parts of the Highlands of Scotland by roads and bridges, 

 advancing agriculture, and extending fisheries, introducing useful trades and manufac- 

 tures, and by an exertion to unite the efforts of the proprietors, and call the attention 

 of Government towards the encouragement and prosecution of these beneficial pur- 

 poses ; (3) The Society shall also pay a jDroper attention to the preservation of the 

 language, poetry, and music of the Highlands." The operation of the Society was 

 at first limited to matters connected with the improvement of the Highlands of Scot- 

 land ; but the supervision of certain departments proper to that part of the country 

 having been subsequently committed to special Boards of Management, several of the 

 earlier objects contemplated by the Society were abandoned, while the progress of 

 agriculture led to the adoption of others of a more general character. 

 Mr Milne Home said he was present at a meeting of the Directors a few weeks ago, 



