THE YOU ATT TESTIMONIAL. 
610 
about to enter can be perfected in one session : indeed, to anticipate this, 
would be to depreciate the importance of the subject. 
Our worthy chairman, Mr. Turner, in proposing my health, has been 
pleased to pass many flattering eulogiums upon me : much, however, of what 
he has said, must be set down to that genuine warmth of heart which he is 
known at all times to evince towards a friend. He has said that I am young, 
fresh, and sound in body and in mind. Now this is saying a great deal; and 
although I am not about to make a confession of physical defects, or mental 
derangement, I may venture to observe that, after a horse has been subjected 
to the scrutinizing eye of a judge, it is seldom that he can be pronounced 
absolutely sound, and free from vice ; and no one is better acquainted with 
this fact than my friend, Mr. Turner. There may be those present who 
are more conversant with human perfection and imperfection than myself; 
but I think the same thing applies even to every human being. You must 
take him with his defects, as well as his excellencies, and the observation of 
the latter must often render you a little blind to the former. 
I will, however, confess thus much, namely, that I feel deeply the respon- 
sibility of the situation in which I have the honour to be placed, and will 
ever exert my utmost endeavours to fulfil the expectations of the governors 
of the institution — to merit the esteem and good fellowship of those with whom 
I shall act, and to obtain the confidence and support of every well-thinking 
member of the profession. Failing in this, I will never consent to hold a 
situation where I can only be considered as a clog to the advancement of 
science, and a mark to be shot at b} r all those who are anxious for its welfare. 
Mr. Youatt said, that although he had already addressed the meeting at a 
wearisome length, he begged permission to propose the next toast : it was 
“ The health of Professor Dick, and prosperity to the Edinburgh Veterinary 
School.” It was highly flattering to him, that although principally for the pur- 
pose of accomplishing a praiseworthy object, yet, partly that he might wit- 
ness the honours conferred on an old friend, Mr. Dick had journeyed more 
than four hundred miles. The Edinburgh Veterinary School owes its origin, 
its progress, and its success, to the undivided exertions of Professor Dick. 
He had read with intense interest, and so had every one around him, the his- 
tory which the Professor gave, at the close of the last session of his school, of 
his unaided, determined struggle to found in the Northern capital an institution 
resembling that at St. Pancras. He had fought and he had conquered. 
The certificated pupils of his school were now recognized at the Horse 
Guards as eligible to bear commissions in her Majesty’s Cavalry Service. 
This was as it should be. Let each institution stand on equal ground, and 
let only the contest between them be, which shall most efficiently prepare the 
pupil for the discharge of the duties of his profession ! 
He claimed permission to propose the present toast, because in Professor 
Dick he recognized one of the earliest contributors to The Veterinarian. 
He was one of the eleven, who, in the first year of the struggle of that periodi- 
cal for existence, supplied it with literary food. His contributions, perhaps, 
were not so numerous as some others, because his time was more than fully 
occupied in conducting, single handed, the veterinary school of the north ; but 
they were always welcome and valuable. And when at a subsequent period he 
had the presumption to endeavour to attach other and better names to his own, 
as editors of The Veterinarian, Professor Dick kindly and promptly con- 
sented to permit his name to give additional value to the work. The first 
editor, with all the kindness that he has uniformly manifested, objected not 
that his name should still appear in the situation which it had always honour- 
ed; and his valued friend Mr. Karkeek, of Truro, refused not that his name 
should be added to the list. Those were glorious days for The Veterina- 
rian : but there were still some violent spirits abroad, and they began to 
