ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 491 
The Annual Report. 
The Secretary read the draft report. 
Mr. Wilkinson thought that the proceedings at the last 
annual meeting should be included in the report. 
Professor Gamgee said the report was only meant to be an 
abstract of the proceedings of the Council. 
Mr. Fleming said the report was a very long one, and it 
was desirable to consider whether much of it might not be 
condensed with advantage. 
Mr. Hunt said he had advocated thoroughly laying before the 
profession what they had done. The Council were, in point of 
fact, sitting in a closed chamber, and before the more voluminous 
reports which had recently appeared in the Veterinarian, little 
or nothing was known about the doings of the Council. Many 
country veterinary surgeons were hardly cognisant that there 
was such a thing as a Council ; or if they knew of its exist- 
tence, did not know who were members of it, or what those 
members did. Instead of abbreviating the report, they 
should place before the profession what had been done from 
beginning to end. They did not want any verbiage or em- 
bellishment, but simply a plain statement of facts ; and from 
what he had gleaned of Mr. Coates' report on the whole, 
there was not much to find fault with. 
Mr. Gowing said it had been remarked at the annual 
meetings that the reports of the Council were of too meagre 
a character. 
Mr. Wilkinson , with reference to his suggestion that the 
proceedings at the annual meeting should appear in the 
report, said the meeting was the only one in the year 
at which gentlemen belonging to the profession, but not 
on the Council, had an opportunity of expressing their sen- 
timents, and it would not be unacceptable to them if they 
were to see their names mentioned as advocating some very 
sound principles, which they did on that occasion. The report 
ignored that meeting altogether. 
Mr. Hunt. — Simply because it is not a Council meeting. 
Mr. Wilkinson said it was a much more important meeting 
than the Council meetings. It was a meeting of the body 
corporate, and superseded all other meetings. The Council 
had no power, except through the body corporate, to do what 
they did. 
Mr. Hunt said the annual meeting was an open meeting, 
and one at which the body corporate were requested to 
attend. No one was present at the Council table but mem- 
bers of Council, and it was their proceedings that he wished 
to have explained to the public. 
