concerning such diseases was the greatest 

 task of the veterinary colleges : the progress 

 made was necessarily slow ; but the founda- 

 tion of veterinary surgery as a science dates 

 from the establishment of the colleges named. 

 For many years the new school of veteri- 

 narians were groping in the dark ; but if they 

 made no striking advance they did valuable 

 work in collecting facts and correct views 

 concerning animal diseases, which were of 

 great value to a later generation. 



The Royal Veterinary College was founded 

 by a Frenchman named Charles Vial de 

 St. Bel, or Sainbel. Sainbel was born at 

 Lyons in 1753. His talents developed early 

 in life, and after a brief but brilliantly suc- 

 cessful career in France he came over to 

 England in 1788. He published proposals 

 for founding a Veterinary School in this 

 country, but his suggestions were not favour- 

 ably received, and he returned home. Per- 

 haps the fact that he had married an 

 Englishwoman during his short residence on 

 this side of the Channel influenced Sainbel 

 in his choice of refuge when the Revolution 

 threatened ; but however that may be, it 

 was to London that he repaired when 

 political unrest in Paris bade him seek a new 

 sphere of activity. 



