MR. Coleman’s bust. 
219 
to perish in the general wreck of the middle ages, it at length 
began to revive upon the continent, and first of all in France ; 
Bourgelat, Solleysel, and some others, leading the way. I have 
had the honour of seeing: the statue of Bourgelat, the first French 
professor, in the theatre of the school at Alfort; and I am happy 
that we shall now have the bust of our Professor in our theatre. 
‘‘ The art has made great advance in England, and that is to 
be attributed chiefly to my friend, the Professor of this College. 
We have several works on veterinary science, but they are not 
such as we should wish them to be—they are not worthy of this 
institution, nor of the state of the science among us; and if, 
gentlemen, we could induce our worthy friend, before he departs 
from among us, to give us a work of his own on the anatomy and 
physiology of the horse, he would leave behind him a monument 
more imperishable than this marble. I wish it had fallen into 
better hands. Sir, to have presented you with this memorial: it 
is a sincere tribute of respect; and I again express our ardent 
hope, that, before you leave us, you would give us a work worthy 
of you and of us, and which, as I said before, would render your 
name more imperishable than this marble.” 
Mr. Coleman then arose. He w'as evidently much affected; 
but the applauses of the company, which long continued, gave 
him time to recover himself. His first sentences, however, were 
nearly inaudible. We conceived him to say, “ I want words, 
gentlemen, to express the pleasure and the thankfulness which I 
feel at the present moment. With that greatest of all crimes— 
that which includes in it every other crime—ingratitude, you 
shall never, I trust, have to accuse me. This is, indeed, a reward 
for the forty years that I have spent in the instruction of veterinary 
pupils, and, I trust, the improvement of the veterinary art. 
The establishment of a veterinary school had long been agitated 
in this country. In 1791, M. Sainbel was appointed Professor 
of the contemplated rather than organized institution. In the 
October of that year the Professor’s lectures were first advertized, 
and at the close of the year there were four resident pupils in the 
College. In January 1792, the first public veterinary lectures were 
delivered; and, applications becoming numerous for the reception 
