368 DINNER OF THE FRIENDS AND STUDENTS OF THE 
traordinary qualifications which single out great men from the mass 
of society—who was not more remarkable for his singular progress 
in knowledge than for those other acquirements which were associ¬ 
ated with it and which endeared him to them—his zeal for know¬ 
ledge and his extraordinary capacity for the highest scientific re¬ 
searches. This made him say, and he was sure they would all 
respond to it, that they had at their board a person of no ordinary 
stamp. (Cheers.) 
When he first talked over the subject of the Veterinary College 
with Mr. Dick, he saw at once that something would be required 
to put the pupils upon a status that would not be mistaken, and 
bring them upon a level with medical students. It was this feel¬ 
ing which induced him to open his class-room to the students, and 
to shew them what they might do if they liked. This attempt, 
first hinted at by Mr. Dick, and afterwards boldly stated by him* 
self, approached year after year nearer to completion : and he had 
no hesitation in saying, that if they took any equal nmnber of ve¬ 
terinary and medical pupils—if they weighed well the advantages 
which each had possessed—the superiority would be found to rest 
with those around him. {Cheers.) His anxiety was, that this 
part of the kingdom should not be provincialized with respect to 
veterinary surgery,—that the centralization should not take place 
in London with respect to this science, so as to involve every other 
institution within it; but that they should have one body in the 
metropolis of Scotland to oppose that system of centralization in 
this respect; and he was glad to say, that in Professor Dick they 
had found a man who was able to carry out this idea, and to make 
the Veterinary College of Edinburgh vie with any other institution 
of the kingdom whatever. (Loud cheers.) 
Dr. Robertson said he dared to say they would all consider the 
toast he was about propose a very useless one; for they would all 
agree, that merit was sure to command success. Now the toast 
put into his hands was “ Success to the Veterinary College of 
Edinburgh.” All must agree, without the formality of a toast, that 
it deserved success ; all must agree that it had the means of com¬ 
manding success ; that it had a man of great talent at its head; and 
therefore there could be no doubt it would succeed. The other part 
of his toast was success to the students who had that day received 
diplomas.” How could any one doubt of their success? when 
they looked to the talents they had displayed, to the good sense 
which they inherited in common with their countrymen—when they 
looked to the good sense of many students who had crossed the 
Tweed to obtain a better education here than they could get else¬ 
where, there was no fear of their success. When they compared 
the merits of the two schools, he thought there was no danger of that 
centralization which Dr. Knox complained of lately. Would gen¬ 
tlemen come from a distance to obtain an education which they 
