LANCASHIRE VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 251 
exact from us that untiring and indomitable application necessary to 
reach the climax. The secret of our failures is often found in the feeble¬ 
ness of our exertions. Depend upon it, great principles and truths are 
rarely developed by accident. They are the final results of diligent and 
patient research, guided by an intelligent mind of a high order. The 
discovery is simply the result of a series of long-continued experiments, 
each landing the investigator a little nearer and nearer to the object he 
is bent upon gaining possession of. His intense interest induces him to 
anticipate the lark’s first flight, as he soars carolling to the skies; and 
he is seen prosecuting his researches long after the liquid melodies of the 
nightingale have died away in the vale. Sir Humphrey Davy’s magni¬ 
ficent discoveries of the composition of the earths and alkalies by the 
voltaic battery and his safety-lamp, were the result of many years’ intense 
and indefatigable labour, carried on generally until 3 o’clock in the 
morning, and frequently for whole nights together, night after night. 
Dr. Jenner was twenty-five years diligently prosecuting his inquiries 
before he finally succeeded. And what was the result of his research ? 
It was the perfecting of a method of vaccination which accomplished a 
complete revolution in the power of that virulent and fatal disease, small¬ 
pox, which then destroyed one out of every seven persons born, but 
now it only carries off seven in every thousand. Would it not be a cause 
for great national joy, a universal boon, if our exertions resulted during 
our lifetime in the cure of some of those diseases I have alluded to ? 
Say one half, or one third of them ? Can you suggest a more likely course 
to accomplish this than what has been proposed? If you can, I conjure 
you, by all that is great and good, to make known yonr plan. I verily 
believe that most of us in this room could become philosophers or dis¬ 
coverers, and accomplish results equal to any that have yet been accom» 
plished, if we would only set about it with the same resolute determi¬ 
nation, and be guided by proper judgment. To acquire the knowledge 
necessary for the cure of the diseases I have specified, requires only the 
same course of conduct as that pursued by Dr. Jenner. In prosecuting 
our enquiries there is probably no human intellect sufficiently sagacious 
to see its way clearly to the end of the task. But Providence may 
vouchsafe light as it proceeds. And God, in His own good time, and by 
His own wise purposes, will develope the result. It may take one, 
perhaps two, or even three decades of time to work it out. But I hope 
yet to hear, before I die, the long loud ring of triumphant and happy 
shouting, proclaiming that the task is accomplished. 
And now, gentlemen, I must bring my address to a close. In doing 
so, allow me to return you my warmest thanks for the kind, patient, 
and attentive hearing you have granted me. Ardently do I wish for the 
success of the veterinary profession, and especially for the veterinary 
medical associations, and, till “ life’s toils are o’er,” my fervent prayer 
shall be, that hereafter we may be where there is no more night, but 
where all is joy and peace; and oh, may we meet each other there ! 
A vote of thanks to the President for his excellent address 
was proposed^ in a neat speech; by Mr. Williams^ of Brad¬ 
ford; Secretary to the Yorkshire Veterinary Medical Asso¬ 
ciation; which was seconded by Mr. Lawson, of Manchester, 
and accorded by acclamation. 
The meeting then terminated. 
Thomas Taylor, Honorary Secretary . 
