296 SCOTTISH METROPOLITAN VETERINARY ASSOCIATION. 
“ The good of human life cannot be in the possession of things 
which for one man to possess is for the rest of mankind to lose, 
but rather in things which all can possess alike, and where each 
man's wealth promotes his neighbour's." 
I take it one of the chief benefits to be derived from associa¬ 
tions of this kind is the opportunity afforded of comparing our 
personal observations with those of our brother practitioners, 
thereby extending the scope and testing the security of our 
knowledge; by exclusiveness we remain insensible to our own 
defects, and our standard of individual capacity is unreliable 
because it is not gauged by the experience of others. 
It is possible, also, that some do not attend from a jealous 
dislike to meet a competitive practitioner apart altogether from 
suspicion of unprofessional conduct. This morbid indisposition 
should be overcome. There is, it is said, more good than evil in 
the composition of every man, and it is undeniable that the best 
traits in a man's character are most clearly perceptible to his 
closest acquaintances. Benevolence and kindly feeling are the 
best interests of all, and are the only royal road to happiness, 
whether individual or social. 
I apprehend that by earnest co-operation the present members 
can render our usual meetings more attractive to general prac¬ 
titioners than they have hitherto been; but to do so every in¬ 
dividual will be required to exert himself for the benefit of his 
fellow-associates, by drawing on his daily experience for cases of 
interest, and to introduce them in a concise descriptive manner, 
and, when possible, to exhibit morbid specimens relating to the 
subject. Such an arrangement would tend to assimilate our pro¬ 
gramme nearer to that of the Central Veterinary Society of London, 
and I think great benefit in several ways would accrue therefrom. 
The adoption of such proceeding would in no wise detract from 
the study of our profession in its scientific aspect, but the sub¬ 
jects would afford ample scope for theoretical speculation, and 
matter for the thoughtful, long after the meetings were ended. 
THE SCOTTISH METROPOLITAN VETERINARY 
MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
The Annual General Meeting was held in Cumming's Hotel, 
Lothian Road, Edinburgh, on Wednesday, 12th February, at 
1 p.m. 
Professor Williams, President, in the Chair. 
Present:—Messrs. Balfour, Kirkcaldy ; Robertson, Kelso ; 
Borthwick, Kirkliston; Aitken, Dalkeith ; Baird and Cumming, 
