ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 207 
been several instances in which such an examination had 
been permitted, but he himself thought such a course very- 
irregular. 
The Registrar then read the obituary list. 
The President: You have seen by the notice that the 
subject of the report of the proceedings of the last special 
meeting of the Council is to be brought forward for considera- 
tion. The report for the Veterinarian is taken by the 
Secretary from the shorthand writer’s notes. Printed slips 
containing the shorthand writer’s report were sent to each 
gentleman who took part in the discussion at the last 
meeting. By one gentleman the slips were returned with 
the whole of his remarks on a particular subject crossed out. 
The omission of these remarks rendered the speeches made 
by one or two other gentlemen wholly unintelligible, and 
therefore I, as president, felt it my duty to consult one or 
two of the gentlemen who took part in that discussion, and 
the opinion was unanimous that the report was not fit for 
publication in its then mutilated form, and that the matter 
had better be brought before the Council at this meeting, so 
that we may decide whether the expressions used at this 
Council, if correctly reported by the shorthand writer, shall 
go to the public, or be suppressed at the will of any particular 
individual. I am of opinion that when a report is faithfully 
made by the shorthand writer, it is scarcely within our 
power to alter it in the manner in which the last report was 
altered. Of course verbal corrections may be made, but I 
think we are not justified in altering the sense. 
Professor Spooner : Surely you do not intend that a 
gentleman speaking at this Council shall necessarily have what 
he says reported without his consent ? 
The President : The object of printing the shorthand 
writer’s notes is to convey to the profession and the public 
what takes place at this Council, and nothing should be 
uttered that ought not to be published. 
Professor Spooner : It appears that the President and 
Secretary have taken upon themselves the responsibility of 
preventing the publication of the report without consulting 
the Council at all. I contend they had no right whatever to 
suppress the publication of the report ; at any rate it was 
most inconsistent, and certainly showed a want of courtesy 
towards me to do so without communicating with me on the 
subject. 
The President : It would have been much more discour- 
teous if we had published it without consulting you. I had 
no object in view but to make this report intelligible. The 
