ON THE ORIGIN OF VETERINARY SCIENCE. 453 
I were inclined to risk some proposals for improving that 
art, he would almost undertake to answer for their being- 
well received. He gave me letters of recommendation to 
Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., and to Dr. Simmons. Thus en¬ 
couraged, I came to England in June, 1788. Two months 
after my arrival in London, I published proposals for form¬ 
ing a veterinary school, but they produced no effect. This 
disappointment, however, did not destroy my hopes; for in 
the month of October, 1789;, I published fresh proposals to 
read lectures on the veterinary art. These proposals met 
with no better success, and I confess this second disappoint¬ 
ment nearly disheartened me. I endeavoured to trace the 
secret causes which so stubbornly resisted my success, and I 
soon perceived that the opulence and mild government of 
England offered an endless field to foreign adventurers of 
every description by w T hom the nation v T as daily imposed 
upon, and repeated experience of such impositions natu¬ 
rally excited mistrust towards foreigners in general; and 
as the honesty of my view^s was not w T ritten in my face, 
patience and perseverance became my only resources. About 
this time I had the good fortune to become acquainted with 
a gentleman who w^as led by a decided taste for the art, and 
a long desire of having it introduced into his own country who 
engaged in frequent discussions v T ith me on the subject, when 
I made him acquainted wdth the whole of my plans, and of the 
little encouragement I had met with. This gentleman eagerly 
responded to my views, and bid me not despair of success, 
assuring me that by persisting in my proposals, the reason 
of the thing would sooner or later carry the victory. He 
had also the friendship to give me particular assistance in 
drawing up proposals better adapted to the customs and 
genius of the nation, w hich represented in an able manner 
the advantage of studying the veterinary art; these proposals 
were distributed in May, 1790, and consisted of 28 pages 
octavo, entitled u Plan for establishing an Institution to Cul¬ 
tivate and teach Veterinary Medicine.” * I carried several 
of them to New r market, where they were well received, and I 
brought back the names of a few subscribers. About the 
end of May I sent several copies to the societies at Odiham, 
Bath, and Manchester. The former society had some time 
before proposed to send two pupils annually to study in the 
schools of France, and had opened a fund for the improve¬ 
ment of farriery. On the receipt of my plan, they did me 
the honour to pass a resolution of approbation, and to elect 
VOL. XXV. 
* See Dr. Simmon’s Journal. 
3 p 
