36 Mil. SEWELL’S INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, 1827 . 
all his writings of an opposite tendency put together. In the 
French periodicals, we find no article, not even the review of a 
work, appearing without the name of its author subjoined : were 
such the practice in this country, private character would be 
spared many pangs ; the gentlemen of the bar, many briefs. 
In furtherance of our present designs, we propose giving upon 
the cover of our journal a printed list of the names of our Cor¬ 
respondents ; they must be regarded as fellow-labourers— colla- 
horateurSy as the French better express it—in this nursery of 
a science of growing utility and importance, and therefore are 
entitled to all the credit of contribution : it is right that others 
should know on what authority statements are made ; it is due 
to those making them that no one else should run away with 
the credit of them. 
MR. SEWELUS INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, 1827. 
MR. SEWELL commenced by observing, that he felt a diffi¬ 
dence in meeting the gentlemen present, after the different lec¬ 
turers in town whom they had been in the habit of hearing. 
That he should not take up their time with a history of the 
Science, as they would find that in different works on veterinary 
subjects. He would state however what he conceived must have 
been the origin of Veterinary Science. Possessors of flocks and 
herds of cattle and horses, must naturally have had their atten¬ 
tion drawn to their various maladies, and have been induced to 
make endeavours to cure theni. It does not appear however to 
have been reduced to a science until the time of the Greeks 
and Romans; . but it more especially became one among the 
Egyptians. However, it is useless to take up time about this : 
its origin might be proved to be as ancient as that of human 
medicine. Hippocrates did not disdain the art; and Xenophon, 
one of the greatest generals of the age, practised it, and has 
written on the science. Among the Romans also we have, as 
celebrated veterinarians and authors. Columella and Vegetius : 
one wrote in the ^nd, the other in the 4th, century. Even the 
poet Virgil has devoted a part of his work to veterinary sub¬ 
jects ; as the 3rd Book of his Georgies show s : he practised in 
the stables of Csesar Augustus, and was rewarded by that Em¬ 
peror; indeed, he has proved himself to have been well skilled 
in the art. After this, arts, science, and history began to de¬ 
cline, and were buried in obscurity for a thousand years, which 
