222 ON VETERINARY MEDICINE 



dial and general encouragement, I am convinc- 

 ed there would be no want of able veterinary 

 praclitioners. What poflible fhame can or ought 

 to be annexed to the praftice of veterinary me- 

 dicine, (ince it is an aft of humanity, of import- 

 ant pubHc fervice, fince it has engaged the at- 

 tention and the labours of fome of the moil 

 eminent men both of ancient and modern times, 

 and fince the uncontroulable nature of things 

 has placed the juft adminiftration of it out of 

 the power of all but the enlightened ? It muft 

 then be pronounced an honourable office, and 

 altogether fit and becoming the homo generoj'us, 

 or gentleman. 



It hath been related, that veterinary writers 

 have not been wanting ; which has been more 

 particularly the cafe during the prefent century, 

 and fubfequent to the great modern improve- 

 ments in medicine. Various able pra6litioners 

 have alfo occafionally arifen among us, and in 

 a neighbouring country ; but the number of 

 fuch has been fo fmall, that the benefits derived 

 from their efforts have been of courfe confined 

 to a very narrow fphere. It was many years ^ 

 ago difcovered in France, that the befl remedy 

 for this defeft, and the only adequate method 

 for the general propagation of veterinary know- 

 ledge, and the rearing of a fufficient number of 

 perfons properly qualified in that line, would 

 be to ereft public feminaries exprefsly dedicated 



to 



