WEST OF SCOTLAND VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 989 
remarks of mine might be looked upon as empty adulation. So 
let us drink success to the London, the Edinburgh, and the Glasgow 
Colleges. 
Professor Williams felt very proud to be in the position of re- 
turning thanks for the Edinburgh Veterinary College, and to 
find that his name was coupled with the toast. Mr. MacLean 
had said that he (Professor Williams) was personally known to 
but a few of the company. That was very true ; but still there 
were present gentlemen who knew him well before his appointment 
to the Edinburgh Veterinary College, and who were the means of 
persuading him to accept that appointment. Little did he think 
when he accepted the professorship that such troubles as he had 
met with during the last two years were in store for him. 
He was glad to think that, notwithstanding these troubles, the 
Veterinary College of Edinburgh now lived as warmly in the 
memory of the old students as it did in the days of Professor 
Dick. He was not going to dwell upon his troubles ; he would 
trample them under foot. He had been harassed, annoyed, 
and worried, by what Mr. Maclean had been pleased to call the 
extreme party. Pity it was that he had been so ; but happily he 
had been honoured with the sympathy and support of the majority 
of the Edinburgh Town Council. That section thoroughly un- 
derstood the state of affairs, and thoroughly sympathised with 
him in his endeavours to make the teaching of the Veterinary 
College of Edinburgh equal to what it was in the past. He was 
not the man to see the teaching quietly deteriorated year after 
year. He would not say anything against anybody, but he was 
bound to see that his pupils should receive the best teaching 
which the times could afford. So long as his students did not 
receive such teaching he would sympathise with them most 
strongly, and support them in every legal way to obtain what they 
had paid for. He wished to be excused for being rather warm 
upon the subject. If he had not had a constitution of iron he should, 
ere now, have followed his predecessors Dalziel and Strangeways to 
the grave. But he was in good health, and prepared to undertake 
the duties of next session with that delight he felt in the teaching of 
his students. He agreed with Mr. Maclean that the teaching of 
their schools, whether of London, Edinburgh, or Glasgow — he 
placed them all upon an equality — was too unphilosophical, and 
needed very great reformation. All the schools should consult 
with one another, and endeavour to do something better than they 
had done in the past. Too much time was wasted in lecturing, 
and too little given to clinical instruction. He also thought that 
two winters were too short for teaching the students anatomy, 
physiology, and all the branches required. But it was wonderful 
how much was accomplished ; and the great majority were, in the 
opinion of their examiners, qualified to practise. Let us all hope 
that very soon there would be an extended curriculum. As to 
veterinary politics, he did not think that the apprenticeship 
clause should ever be enforced. But at the same time he thought 
65 
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