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EDINBURGH VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
does — and, still more so, to see him here, entering into all the 
amusement of the evening with the same vigour as if he had 
been but a youth of twenty-five; verifying, indeed, to the fullest 
extent, the remark of the Psalmist, that as his age increases, he 
becomes “ fat and full of sap, and always flourishing.” 
I am sure, gentlemen, that each and all of us wish him a long 
continuance of that inestimable blessing, and that the evening of 
his days may be as calm and serene as the bustle and active la- 
bours of his meridian of life fully entitle him to claim. 
Mr. Boag proposed the following toast : — 
I really feel some little diffidence in rising to the call on the 
present occasion upon which we are met to do honour to, and testify 
our respect for the distinguished guests by whom we are sur- 
rounded, and to many of whom we are so deeply indebted for 
imparting to us that knowledge of the animal frame on which our 
success in life and practice, and our skill and usefulness as sci- 
entific practitioners, mainly depend. In rising before those who 
rank so high in the position which they, as medical teachers, 
occupy, and who fill with such ability the offices they individually 
hold — those who are not led away, as many in high places are, 
with unprofitable or speculative views, or ingenious yet worthless 
theories, but who possess that which must ever give to theory its 
greatest value and highest grandeur, — the power to apply and to 
convert it to some useful end or practical purpose, — and to dis- 
charge with full efficiency and honour the respective duties of 
their calling ; in rising, I say, at this time, and before such dis- 
tinguished guests, I do feel much diffidence, and must respect- 
fully claim your very liberal indulgence. 
The toast entrusted to my care, and which I have now the 
honour to propose, probably stands too high in your regard, in 
intrinsic worth and in general importance, for any language of 
mine sufficiently to describe or adequately express. Whether I 
regard the attention which has been paid to agriculture from the 
earliest to the present time by the wise and the good of all nations — 
by those who have really and truly at heart the best interests of 
the land — or the improvements which its study has been instru- 
mental in effecting on the face of the country, and on the social, 
intellectual, and moral condition of the people — or its importance 
in contributing to our national resources, its capability of adding 
to the wealth of our fellow-men, or its power to confer the subsist- 
ence and necessaries of life — its worth in affording a pleasurable 
and healthy occupation to thousands, and the homely felicity 
and fireside delight which such a line of life never fails to impart, 
or its value not only in keeping up a friendly intercourse and an 
harmonious feeling, and in binding and concentrating the affec- 
