Page:Introductory lecture delivered to the class of military surgery in the University of Edinburgh, May 1, 1855 (IA b21916469).pdf/34

33 and promising student never sat on these benches. Of this you may judge by the following extract from the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal for 1835:—"On Monday, the 16th day of April, at the last meeting of the class of Military Surgery in the University of this city, in the presence of a considerable number of the professors of the medical faculty, and most of the medical officers of the Army, Navy, and East India Company's Service, resident here, the professor, after concluding the lecture, proceeded to announce the names of the gentlemen who had obtained prizes."

"By nearly the unanimous votes of the class, after a competition conducted in the presence of the Principal of the University, and numerous professional gentlemen, the individual selected as most distinguished by a knowledge of the subjects of military medicine and surgery, was Mr. Robert Lawson, from Perthshire, in which decision the professor concurred, and Mr. Lawson was accordingly recommended to the Director-General. We understand that he has since received the appointment so justly due to his merits."

It was, I think, upon that occasion that my predecessor Dr. Thomson, in congratulating me