184 
OBITUARY. 
cess which attended his younger brother, he also became a 
pupil at the College, and graduated in 1807. 
It would seem that the same love of animals was possessed 
by both brothers, as each had been brought up as an agricul¬ 
turist. 
At that period the veterinary art was just emerging from 
the darkness which had so long enveloped it, and the prin¬ 
ciples of medical science were king applied to the diseases 
of the lower animals, which before had been, in most in¬ 
stances, subjected to only empirical barbarism. What 
wonder was it, that when more correct views were taken of 
disease, and the public were made conversant with these, 
through some of the most talented men of the day lending 
their powerful aid to the infant art, that young men of edu¬ 
cation and principle should be induced to become its stu¬ 
dents? There are yet those living who remember the 
struggles and difficulties they had to contend with; never¬ 
theless these were overcome, and as years passed on fresh 
strength was acquired, and means of instruction were 
increased, until the profession attained its present standing. 
After obtaining his diploma, Mr. James Sewell entered 
into practice at Bath, but not liking that locality, he 
removed to Windsor with the intention of joining the late 
Mr. Dean as a partner. Failing in this, he went to St. 
Albans in 1810, where, by his strictly honourable and up¬ 
right conduct, he obtained the confidence and respect of the 
leading noblemen, gentlemen, and agriculturists of the 
neighbourhood. In 1834, the present Mr. Silvester, of 
St. Albans, joined him as a partner, and at the end of three 
years from that time succeeded to the practice. Mr. Sewell, 
however, continued to take the most lively interest in all 
relating to veterinary matters, and was to be seen as almost 
a daily visitor to the infirmary of his sucessor. 
He continued to reside at St. Albans until 1853, when the 
delicate state of his sister’s health induced him to go and live 
with her at Reading, where he remained, not only until her 
death, in October last, but until he himself was called upon 
to depart. His illness commenced with a sudden attack of 
difficulty of breathing and cough, which, in a few days, in¬ 
creased so much as to confine him to his bed for about a month 
before his death. His age was eighty-three. 
Although the subject of this memoir did not contribute 
much to veterinary science, he was generally considered a 
good and sound practitioner of his day. It has been said of 
him, that which few can boast of—that he never made an 
enemy, but by his quaint and good humour many a friend. 
