MEMOIR OF CAMPER. 49 



stitute, in short, a permanent medical police, from 

 whose watchfulness and intelligence much benefit is 

 expected, and, we may add, is not unfrequently de- 

 rived. It was to this honourable office in Gronin- 

 gen, that, as above stated, Camper was appoint- 

 ed. 



He, however, was the last man to confine himself 

 to the merely prescribed routine of official duty, and 

 therefore no one will be surprised to learn, that, ani- 

 mated by those enlarged and benevolent views to 

 which we have already had occasion to advert, he 

 very speedily exerted himself in the formation of an 

 agricultural society for the district, the chief object 

 of which was to promote experiments and improve- 

 ments in all the various branches of farming and 

 husbandry. In this society he was prevailed upon 

 to undertake the laborious duties of secretary ; and 

 it was not long before his energy and his scientific 

 acquirements were put into requisition, and in a way 

 which did the highest honour to his patriotism. He 

 was in fact an enthusiastic agriculturist ; and, more 

 especially in his own department, that which con- 

 cerned live stock, their health and their diseases, he 

 displayed a zeal which, so far as our information ex- 

 tends, has never been exceeded. As a striking proof 

 of his zeal, we may mention, that, during the exist- 

 ence of an epidemic disorder which raged among the 

 cattle, he, in the course of his inquiries into its na- 

 ture, dissected with his own hands more than six 

 hundred animf.Js which had become its victims. 



