THE HISTORY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 239 



a far more politic character, and stood in high favor with the min- 

 istry, and his scholars gave hiin such ardent support that the 

 severe critique of his opponent passed him harmlessly by. The 

 disappointment to his ambition, in unison with sufferings caused 

 by a stone in the bladder, made him sell his house in Paris and 

 remove to Russia, where he remained from 1777 to 1781. It is not 

 definitely known what positions he occupied while there. But in 

 no case could he find himself at home in the despotism ruling in 

 Russia, and soon returned to Paris, where he rapidly assumed a 

 position at court as veterinarian, and was also appointed to a simi- 

 lar position in the carabiniers and gendarmes. From his discon- 

 tent with the government, it is not to be wondered at that we find 

 him taking an active part in the acts of the Revolution, which 

 soon followed : he was present at the storming of the Invalides and 

 Bastile ; became a member of the armed commission, division com- 

 mander, and municipal officer of Paris. But we do not find his 

 revolutionary ideas confined to politics alone ; his hatred against the 

 existing veterinary institutions and Bourgelat again found full vent, 

 and he easily saw reasons for the suppression of both, and the re- 

 moval of the schools to Paris ; among other things, he accused the 

 existing powers of supporting a costly and unnecessary menagerie, 

 besides unnecessary instruments, and of accumulating a debt, in 

 the years between 1782 and 1785, of thirty thousand livres. La- 

 fosse was a hippologist par excellence, and this exclusive devotion 

 to the horse was used successfully in the arguments against his 

 polemic attacks on the existing institutions. Although the authori- 

 ties took so little notice of his polemics, yet Lafosse did not fail 

 entirely of public appreciation, for we find him appointed to sev- 

 eral important positions as inspector and examiner in connection 

 with the army. In all these he displayed his usual activity. On 

 the 29th of July, 1794, he narrowly escaped death upon the scaf- 

 fold. He then left Paris, occasionally revisiting it, however, and 

 retired to the country, where he busied himself in scientific studies, 

 occasionally appearing before the public. In 1797 he read a paper 

 before the National Institute, entitled " Me moire sur une maladie 

 epizootique vaccinique dans le Canton de Bray, qui a regni pendant 

 l'ete de l'an V, jusqu'a- la fin de vendemiaire an VI." Other papers 

 followed this of no less importance. In 1796 he was elected asso- 

 ciate member of the Institute, but, notwithstanding earnest endeavor 

 on his part and that of his friends, he did not succeed in becoming 

 virtually a member. In 1819 he again vented his hatred against 

 the schools in a writing entitled " Xouvelle Theorie pratique d'equi- 



