104 
COLLEGE REMINISCENCES. 
him an apprentice to a surgeon and apothecary, at whose domi¬ 
cile he toiled at the pestle, drew teeth, and bled ; and, after a few 
months, prescribed and prepared medicines for all the poor pa¬ 
tients in the district. Young minds are often formed by circum¬ 
stances, and our destinies 
“ Shape our ends, rough-hew them how we will.* 
This proved true in my case; for after serving five years, the 
period of my apprenticeship, I was induced to give up the idea 
of being a second W. Hunter, or a Cooper, and to turn my thoughts 
to the veterinary profession. My father, seeing so many sur¬ 
geons practising in his neighbourhood, and only one veterinary 
surgeon (the former, with one exception, ready to eat each other 
np, and striving hard for a maintenance, whilst the veterinary 
surgeon was in full practice, and making a fortune), persuaded 
me to become a pupil of Mr. Coleman instead of Abernethy. 
The pupils at the College, at the period I entered, were a sin¬ 
gular compound : every county in England must have sent a 
few; nor were the sister countries behindhand. Some had the 
appearance of gentlemen, some looked like grooms, stable-boys, 
and horse-jockeys, and manyappeared to belong to that honest 
and respectable class called blacksmiths. Nearly eighty pupils 
attended Mr. Coleman's introductory lecture. The Professor 
was some time before he made his appearance, and the interval 
was employed by the different groups in congratulating each 
other on their reappearance at the College. Suddenly the noise 
and din of tongues was stopt by the entrance of the Professor. 
From his figure and gait, I judged him to be between sixty and 
seventy years of age. His walk, attitude, and gesture, w ere those 
of a man confident of himself, a little addicted to be indifferent 
to others, and far more disposed to lead than to follow. He ap¬ 
peared in haste,—• 
With speed that entering speaks his haste to go. 
He takes his seat, and opes his portfolio; 
Then bids the gazing youths around liim fly, 
And carries fate and physic in his eye. 
His lecture was every thing but satisfactory to me, inasmuch 
as it informed me that blacksmiths’ sons and stable-bovs made 
• • • • ^ 
the best practitioners, whilst medical men rarely succeeded. 
“ Long habit,” he said, “ had enabled him confidently to tell 
who will and who will not succeed.” Here were all my hopes 
and brilliant prospects blighted almost in a moment—the spell 
was broken; the halo my imagination had thrown around me was 
fast dispersing ; and, had I not already paid my twenty guineas. 
