454 ON THE ORIGIN OF VETERINARY SCIENCE 
me an honorary member of their society, and they expressed 
their opinion of the expediency of establishing an institution 
similar to those in France, Germany, &c. I added a few 
names to my subscribers, and deferred taking any further 
step till the following winter. During this interval the 
Odiham Society proposed a premium for the best treatise on 
the glanders, and appointed a committee to meet at the 
Blenheim coffee-house, to consider of the best method of 
improving farriery. 
“This committee met in the close of the year 1790: two 
treatises only being presented, one by their zealous and 
respectable Vice-President, the late Sir William Fordyce, 
and the other by myself. Several meetings took place with¬ 
out anything very effectual being done, till, at length, in one 
of these meetings, the committee passed a resolution to the 
following purport—‘That they had observed the good effect 
produced on the public mind by the exertions of the Odiham 
Society for the Improvement of Farriery, and by my plan pro¬ 
posed, for establishing a public institution for that purpose; 
that the object of that society was one and the same with 
that contained in my plan, and that the two schemes ought 
to be consolidated into one/ This was done; I was appointed 
professor. A few days after, the committee, by another 
resolution, detached themselves entirely from the Odiham 
Society, and erected themselves into an independent society 
(assigning the reasons for taking that step), by the name of 
the Veterinary College of London.” 
From among the earliest and most sincere friends who 
subscribed toward the establishment and support of this 
institution, we may select the names of Earl Grosvenor, Mr. 
Penn, Earl Moreton, Sir J. C. Bunbury, Dr. Crawford, and 
that most distinguished surgeon, John Hunter, who, as we 
are very justly informed, saw its importance in a strong 
point of view, as a held opened towards the cultivation of 
comparative anatomy, and which was the cause of his ren¬ 
dering it all the assistance in his power, not only as regards 
pecuniary, but likewise his professional interest. It is also 
stated that the Duke of Northumberland was elected pre¬ 
sident, and that he contributed 500 guineas towards the sup¬ 
port of this most useful institution, and that there were 
many other noblemen and gentlemen who came forward with 
beneficent donations. 
Among the names of the first pupils who entered the 
Veterinary College, and who have distinguished themselves 
in their profession, we may select those of Mr. Bracy Clark, 
Mr. Lawrence, and Mr. Blaine; the last of whom, in 
