The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow was granted its Royal Charter by King James VI and I in 1599, enabling the regulation of the proper training, licensing and practice of medicine and surgery in the South West of Scotland. Since 1862 the College’s handsome premises in St Vincent Street, Glasgow, have housed a fine collection of silver, books, works of art and objects pertaining to the science of medicine together with portraits of presidents from the eighteenth century to the present day – a reminder of the many distinguished practitioners of medicine and surgery who have presided over this institution for 400 years. The collection also contains a fine (if incomplete) copy of J. J. Audubon’s 'Birds of America', together with an interesting and growing number of works by young and contemporary artists, many of which have been purchased from the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts exhibitions, to which the College offers an annual prize thereby keeping alive the links between culture, the City and the College.