970 
GLASGOW VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
profession shall be enabled to discharge much of that debt it has 
so long owed to the medical profession. I rejoice to have this 
opportunity of publicly stating that much of the progress made 
by the profession since I joined it has been the result of the 
earnest perusal of medical works, and the reduction of the prin- 
ciples there laid down to meet the varied circumstances of our 
patients. (Applause.) 
Gentlemen, it has been my custom at our annual meeting 
briefly to advert to a few of the more important topics whieh have 
engaged the attention of the profession, and which, owing to the 
nature of our calling, are generally of interest to the public as 
well as the profession, and two of the more important subjects of 
discussion appear to me to be the working of the Contagious Dis- 
eases (Animals) Act and the practical examination of veterinary 
students. Having had the honour of advising Government through 
two separate sources prior to the framing of the Act, and having 
had the further honour and responsibility of carrying the pro- 
visions of the Act into practical effect in this large city, I hope 
I am in a position to speak with a certain amount of authority 
on this subject. (Applause.) 
The Act and the Orders in Council founded on the Act, in my 
opinion, give, and have given, ample power to deal with and eradi- 
cate contagious diseases in cattle and sheep, provided they are 
carried out to the full extent in all cases. It was the intention 
of Government that the local authorities should employ properly 
qualified veterinarians to act as inspectors ; but, instead of this, 
many instances might be cited where the local authority have 
appointed policemen and others equally unqualified to the office 
of inspector. Such inspectors being ignorant of the powers they 
possess under the Act and its ever varying Orders in Council, and, 
of course, grossly ignorant of a knowledge of the nature of con- 
tagious diseases in animals, and unable to recognise such affection 
in the living or dead subject, have brought the Act into disrepute 
in such localities, and have induced persons to conceal rather than 
reveal the presence of disease among their herds. 
The publication of the names and addresses in the newspapers 
of persons whose stocks are affected is also a mistake and not 
provided for in the Act, and a serious obstacle to voluntary in- 
formation. In other cases the local authority have appointed 
one inspector (qualified or unqualified) to do the work of two or 
more. And lastly, the local authority, in not a few cases, have 
taken up a line of action, different, nay, in some instances, an- 
tagonistic to the wording and evident construction of the Act. 
In one case which came under my observation, the local autho- 
rity, instead of having “ diseased animals, or animals housed with 
diseased animals,” killed at the nearest slaughter-house, actually 
had forms printed as licences, setting forth that they permitted 
the removal of diseased animals to the Edinburgh and Glasgow 
fat cattle market. A very respectable and extensive dealer was 
offered cattle under these circumstances but declined them, and 
