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EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS, 
matters to take their own course; At the same time it was 
important that the Council, or the members generally, should 
take cognizance of any very flagrant act, on the part of any 
body of men in Scotland, tending to injure the College. Such 
an act had recently occurred, and he desired to call the atten¬ 
tion of the members to it. A report had appeared in the 
Edinburgh papers, that at the meetings of the examiners of 
the Edinburgh College, and at a dinner of that body, there 
were present the President of the Royal College of Surgeons 
and the President of the Royal College of Physicians of 
Edinburgh. No doubt those individuals might attend din¬ 
ners and examining boards as often as they liked, but when 
he saw them paraded before the public as (( Dr. Newbegin, 
President of the Royal College of Surgeons/ 5 and “ Dr. 
Cragie, President of the Royal College of Physicians/ 5 he 
thought that it was time that they should represent the 
matter to those public bodies, and ask for their assistance on 
behalf of the veterinary profession in its legitimate working. 
It was true that they would be stepping upon delicate ground, 
but he believed, from the feeling which existed in Scotland, 
and especially in Edinburgh, to support everything that was 
proper and legal, that if the charter was transmitted to the 
College of Physicians and the College of Surgeons, and a 
statement made that the Presidents of those bodies had been 
giving their official sanction to an illegal board, no harm 
could be done, and some benefit might be derived. It was 
a serious matter in a place like Scotland to have such gen* 
tlemen formally acquiescing and taking part in meetings 
which were illegal. He believed that there was a feeling 
in favour of the Royal College, and as it increased the 
favour exhibited towards illegally constituted boards would 
necessarily diminish. But they ought not to be blind to the 
fact that, whereas many students now presented themselves 
to the legally constituted board in Scotland, all the students 
of one of the colleges sought the certificate of the Highland 
Society; and so long as they were not strong enough to 
bear up against that temptation, it was important that the 
members of the profession should do all they could to en¬ 
lighten the public mind on the subject. 
Professor Spooner said this was no new subject, and it had 
unfortunately created a great deal of unpleasantness among the 
members of the body corporate almost from the first granting 
of the charter. It would be borne in mind that before the 
charter Mr. Dick’s school and the London College were in 
existence, and each of them possessed its own examining board. 
After the obtainment of the charter, Mr. Dick, who was one of 
