EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
345 
sors of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons were opposed 
to the obtainment of the charter. I mean the late Professor 
Coleman and Professor Sewell. Mr. Morton and myself, 
although connected with the institution at that time, were 
sub-officers, and could not well act when our senior col¬ 
leagues were opposed to the application for a charter. After 
Mr. Colemaffis death I held a more prominent position in con¬ 
nection with the College, and was enabled to induce the late 
Professor Sewell to join me in signing a petition for a charter; 
Professor Simonds and Professor Dick also attached their sig¬ 
natures. There was then no difficulty about the matter, and the 
charter was at once granted. I have said that a good deal 
of dissension took place, and I will tell you the cause. After 
we had signed the petition no meeting of this provisional 
committee was ever convened, and the matter was left en¬ 
tirely in the hands of the late Mr. Thomas Turner, Mr. 
Mayer, and Mr. James Turner—the chairman, the secretary, 
and the chairman’s brother—who never consulted the other 
members. When the committee learned, to their surprise, 
that the charter was granted, they looked into the various 
clauses, some of which they found to be very objectionable. 
This led to a great deal of dispute, in consequence of which, 
and the examining fee being too high in the opinion of 
Professor Dick, that gentleman seceded from his connection 
with the corporate body. He reverted to his original position, 
and placed himself under the protection of the Highland and 
Agricultural Society, and he has continued in that position 
up to the present time. Now that, I say, is very much to be 
lamented. It is the duty, in my opinion, of the members of 
the corporate body to induce Professor Dick to come round 
to us, and send his pupils to the Royal College of Veterinary 
Surgeons for examination, so that they may become members 
of the corporation. But the great question is, how is this to be 
done ? Unfortunately, in my opinion, for years past we have 
been adopting wrong measures. We have been endeavouring 
to effect this purpose by violent means, from which, depend 
upon it, good results seldom proceed. The proper way 
would be to appoint a deputation from this body to wait 
upon the Highland and Agricultural Society, and fully ex¬ 
plain to them the nature of the charter. There can be no 
doubt that the issuing of certificates by that society, an 
apparently official and authorised body, tends more than 
anything else to oppose the progress of the corporation. 
With regard to empiricism, as Mr. Gamgee has remarked, 
whatever restrictions we may place upon individuals, the evil 
will exist to a greater or less extent; but it would be highly 
