AT COPENHAGEN. 
549 
BernstofF. They seemed, indeed, to have forgotten the object 
of their mission, and they intended only to pursue the studies to 
which they had before devoted themselves, holding in little 
account the remedies which France could offer to arrest the epi¬ 
demic that desolated Denmark. Like too many medical stu¬ 
dents and practitioners of the present day, they could not bring 
themselves to believe that that which had reference only to the 
lower orders of animals could deserve their serious consideration 
and study. * 
They were, however, agreeably surprised when they found the 
theory and practice of veterinary medicine taught with a degree of 
accuracy and precision not exceeded in the lectures of the most 
talented of the professors of that superior school of human medi¬ 
cine which they had just left, and when, in fact, the instructions 
which were given on the anatomy and diseases of domestic quad¬ 
rupeds were clearing up many disputed questions on the most in¬ 
teresting points of human physiology and pathology,—and when 
the attention which they bestowed on the brute was rapidly pre¬ 
paring them for the more scientific and successful practice of their 
former profession. 
M. Muller was soon obliged to return to Norway, where he 
afterwards acquired a high and deserved reputation as a physi¬ 
cian ; and Backhuusen was, immediately on his return, appointed 
surgeon to the small-pox hospital, and soon afterwards died: 
M. Abildgaard, however, after studying two years and a half at 
Lyons, returned to Denmark, in love with his new profession, 
and determined to sacrifice all his former prospects to engage in 
its pursuit. 
The times were much changed in Denmark. The king had 
died, and his death had been followed by a change of ministry 
and a change of measures. He found, however, in one man, the 
John Hunter or the Cline of the Danish veterinary school, a 
strenuous, although not successful supporter. M.de Berger was 
then chief physician to the king. The cause of veterinary science 
had been abandoned by all his colleagues, but he saw its im¬ 
portant connexion with medical science, and with agricultural 
prosperity. His knowledge of the world had likewise taught 
him, that men are most easily convinced and governed when 
their pecuniary interests are benefitted ; and therefore he obtained 
an order from the king, that M. Abildgaard should attempt to 
arrest the progress of this murderous epidemic. Here, however, 
prejudice was even stronger than interest. Bernstoff stood alone 
as a minister, and Berger alone as a physician, in their just 
estimation of the importance of veterinary science, and their pa¬ 
tronage, and even the skill and zeal of Abildgaard, were perfectly 
VOL. IV. 4 F 
