VETERINARY OBITUARY. 49 
Although no one enjoyed more the society of his friends, or 
was better able or more willing- to contribute his share to the 
pleasures of the convivial hour, he was habitually a reg-ular and 
a dilig-ent man. His leisure hours were mostly employed in 
dissection. He was particularly fond of making- injective pre¬ 
parations, whether with quicksilver or wax. He often attempted 
to inject the substance of the brain, the arachnoid membrane, 
and several comparatively unorg-anised parts of the frame. He 
was often successful in thus demonstrating* the communication 
between arteries and veins, and between arteries and absorbents. 
His preparations of the spermatic chord are delicate and com¬ 
plete. 
He first injected the absorbents of the foot; and from several 
of his preparations Professor Coleman derived much assistance 
in preparing the plates for his work on the foot. It is to be 
regretted that that gentleman did not, in spite of the probable 
modest reluctance of his friend, publicly acknowledge the obli¬ 
gation. “ Suum cuique” is an excellent motto in the literary 
as well as the moral world. 
So devoted was Mr. Percivall to this pleasing and useful 
study, that he collected no less than three museums, the least of 
which was complete for every purpose of anatomical and phy¬ 
siological elucidation, and particularly rich in morbid specimens, 
illustrating the progress and change of structure in every dis¬ 
ease to which the horse is subject. One of these museums was 
sent to the Dublin Society; another is deposited in the Riding 
School at Woolwich; and the last he prepared occupied a room 
fitted up for it in the Royal Horse Infirmary. It is the largest 
and best of the three, and contains many curious and valuable 
specimens, particularly some unrivalled ones of the circulatory 
system generally, and of the course of the nerves. 
Although not the author of any regular work, yet he con¬ 
tributed several valuable papers to The Veterinarian. His cases 
of “ Laceration of the Rectum/’ and “ Stone in the Bladder/' in 
the first volume; of “ Worms in the large Intestines of the Horse/’ 
and his excellent “ Essay on Inflammation in the Foot/’ in the se¬ 
cond volume; and his case of “ Tetanus ’ in the third, w ill be duly 
appreciated by the readers of that periodical. The Veterina¬ 
rian, however, was more deeply indebted to him than this. 
From his paternal connexion with one of the editors, and the 
intimate friendship which subsisted between him and the other, 
he may be said to have been the presiding and controlling spirit. 
Thus much the w riter of this article knows, that there were fre¬ 
quent and anxious deliberations among the three; that John 
VOL. IV. H 
