REMARKS ON PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATIONS. 
833 
To me it appears that Professor Dick, by being a party, of his 
own free will to the obtainment of the Charter of Incorpora¬ 
tion, vested for ever in the Council, elected according to the 
provisions of the Royal decree, his power of granting di¬ 
plomas. The Highland Society may feel great sympathy 
with its veterinary professor, grant subsidies to his school, 
institute orders of merit, and otherwise encourage scientific 
attainments therein, but they too have no right to lead 
the young men educated at the college to believe that the 
certificate they issue is all that is required for legally con¬ 
stituting them members of the veterinary profession. It 
is high time that the Body Corporate made a stand against 
this innovation—this right of its Council. I know of no 
other chartered body who would for a day—much more for 
a series of years—allow such an infringement of its corporate 
rights. But the want of union—a departure from the 
motto of our arms—is the great evil of the veterinary Body 
Corporate. If the members would individually exert them¬ 
selves with their Council, wrongs would soon cease to 
exist or become visionary; for with men, so with a cohort 
of men, they who respect themselves, or their moral and 
legal rights, are, and have them, most respected by others. 
I can quite understand the feeling of kindness and con¬ 
ciliation that would dictate Professor Morton's reply to Mr. 
Dray; but the “ diplomas of recognised schools" is but a 
vague expression; ,in fact, it has no meaning in the sense I 
have taken it to be used, for veterinary schools or colleges in 
Great Britain have no right to grant diplomas. Even the 
Royal Veterinary College of London is in one respect only a 
“ school of instruction in veterinary medicine/ 5 
The plan of action in this matter, as it appears to me, 
would be to get the Council of the Body Corporate to pass a 
resolution allowing all gentlemen possessing the Highland 
Society's certificate, who are not already members of the 
body corporate, to become so by passing a nominal examina¬ 
tion, with no fee save the expense of the diploma itself. I 
would'*pave a way of honour for the escape of these mis¬ 
guided gentlemen from the anomalous position in which they 
stand to the veterinary profession. I would peremptorily 
discountenance the creation of any more, by petitioning the 
Principal Veterinary Surgeon to the army to admit none in 
future to military appointments who do not possess the di¬ 
ploma of the Body Corporate; by petitioning the Home 
Secretary of State upon the illegality of the matter, and by 
showing the courts of law in Great Britain and Ireland that 
gentlemen possessing the Highland Society’s certificate alone 
