VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
135 
and that it had been proved to be false by the girl’s own lips ; and 
observing that he had never seen such an exhibition in his life as 
when the girl was being cross-examined in the witness-box. He 
said that a more shameful attempt to malign the character of two 
respectable men had never been made in a court of justice. 
The Lord President, in summing up, said that the case had been 
very elaborately laid before them from both sides of the bar, and it 
was not surprising that it should be so, for it was a case involving 
character in the greatest sense of the word. He would endeavour 
to discharge the duty which devolved upon him as shortly as pos¬ 
sible, and explain to them what was the question that they were to 
try, because the question was not precisely the same as was put in 
the issue. The case, they would observe, was a claim of damages 
for defamation, said to be contained in a letter which was before 
them, and he would commence his observations by calling their 
attention somewhat particularly to the statements contained in that 
letter. They knew enough of the circumstances in which it had 
been written to make the letter now perfectly intelligible, and it was 
quite necessary that they should so far analyse it as to be quite 
clear as to the statements it contained. Mr. Williams, in the name 
of Dr. Dalzell and Dr. Strangeways, had thus addressed the pursuer: 
—“ Dear Sir,—We have done all in our power, by careful inquiry 
impartially conducted, to arrive at the cause of the unseemly occur¬ 
rences which have taken place in your class, one of them no later 
than Wednesday last. AVe have no desire to hurt your feelings, 
much less to urge against you any wilful omission of duty, but we 
feel satisfied that you have failed to preserve that order in your class 
which is necessary for teaching it; and we need scarcely remind 
you that the occurrences we allude to, though happening only 
during your lectures, have a very bad effect on the general credit of 
this college.” Now, they saw that the statement here was that 
these gentlemen, constituting the council of the institution, had 
made inquiry into the cause of the disturbances in the pursuer’s 
class, and had come to the conclusion that he had failed to preserve 
that order which was necessary for teaching the class, and, what was 
of more consequence, that they must have a very bad effect on the 
general credit of the college. Now, so far, that appeared to him to 
be a mild and moderate statement, provided always that it was a 
fair representation of the result of the inquiry. They went on 
further to say—“ We are sorry that your position, in terms of the 
will of the late Professor Dick, makes it impossible for us to recog¬ 
nise you as a professor of the college, and receive you as a member 
of its deliberative council; but this ought to have made you all the 
more anxious to call in our assistance in checking the first outbreaks 
of insubordination. Instead of reporting to us, you have allowed 
matters to go on, threatening the unruly, without carrying your 
threats into execution. We are certain that this college will suffer 
if you continue in your present position ; and with sincere regret 
we are compelled to suggest to you the propriety of relinquishing a 
position which seems to us not accordant to the will of the founder 
