AND SURGERY. 223 



to the purpofe. We of this country came 

 (fomewhat late indeed) into the fame falutary 

 meafure ; and a Veterinary College, or Hof- 

 pital for Cattle, has been eflablifhed at London; 

 another near Birminghan:i, and I believe one or 

 two more are under confideration, in different 

 parts of the kingdom. The propriety of thefe 

 (leps, and the benefits derived therefrom, are 

 matter of proof, in the obvious extenfion of 

 veterinary knowledge, and the increafe of prac- 

 titioners within thefe few years. Public inflitu- 

 tions, provided they are not unduly favoured 

 with exclufive privileges, or armed with coer- 

 cive and reRriftive powers, are ever moft effi- 

 cacious and contributory to the advancement 

 of fcience ; a prominent inftance of the truth 

 of which we are at this moment witneffmg, in 

 the late eftablifhment of a board of agriculture, 

 W'hich in its infancy has already conferred be- 

 nefits of the mofh important nature on the 

 country, and in a much larger proportion than 

 could poffibly have been experienced from mere 

 private exertions, or thofe of focieties however 

 favourably conftituted, during a great length 

 of time. To make ufe of a homely proverb, 

 that which is every body's bufinefs is ufually 

 held to be no man's bufinefs, and therefore de- 

 mands the foftering hand of the community : 

 the fcattered rays of knowledge are by joint and 

 public means belt coIle6led into a common 



focus 



