The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2) / Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field

by William Taplin

VETERINARY COLLEGE

.—The Veterinary College is a national establishment for the general improvement of farriery, situate at Camden Town, in the parish of St. Pancras, at the northern extremity of the Metropolis; and derived its origin and institution from the following circumstance. In January, 1789, issued from the press, a Treatise upon Farriery, in an octavo volume, under the title of "The Gentleman's Stable Directory," by the present Writer; the popularity of which occasioned it to pass through seven editions in the first twelve months, which number has since been exactly doubled. In the course of the work, it was repeatedly regretted, that, amidst the infinity of improvements for which the English were so remarkable, the system of farriery should still remain in its original state of barbarism. In a few months after which, advertisements appeared in the different prints, under sanction of the "Odiham Agriculture Society," proposing a public subscription for sending a certain number of lads annually to France to study farriery, (now called the veterinary science.) The Author of the Stable Directory, who was then preparing his second volume for the press, availed himself of the opportunity to congratulate the promoters of so laudable an undertaking; at the same time obliquely observing, he was concerned to see France was to have the reputation of doing that for us, which we could not do for ourselves.

Whether it was from the force of this admonition, or the effect of chance, is not material; the scene within a period of two or three months was totally changed. With a grant from Parliament, aided by public contributions, and private subscriptions, the College was erected, and instituted in February; and their propositions, rules, and regulations, published April the 8th, 1791: the principal purport of which were as follows. The establishment to consist of a President, ten Vice-Presidents, twenty Directors, Treasurer, Professor, and Secretary. The Society and School to be called the Veterinary College, London. The President, Vice-Presidents, ten of the Directors, and the Treasurer, to be chosen every year by ballot. The President, Vice-Presidents, and Directors, to form the Council, in which shall be lodged the whole executive power of the College; subject to the controul of the members (that is, the annual or perpetual subscribers) at large, at four quarterly meetings. The Council to meet the first Tuesday in every month; from which Council a Committee was to be elected, and called the Permanent Committee, who were to meet the remaining Tuesdays in each month: this Committee were to act with the authority of the Council, but subject to its controul.

After various regulations respecting meetings of council, committees, and members, it proceeded to state the annual election of a Medical Experimental Committee, and a Committee of Transaction. The former to meet occasionally, for the purpose of suggesting and trying experiments, with a view to throw additional light on the animal œconomy, and to discover the effects of medicines upon different animals, to be procured for that particular purpose; and this Committee, from time to time, were to make reports of their proceedings to the Council. The Committee of Transaction to be charged with the selection, compilation and arrangement of the matter for the annual volume of transactions, and the preparation of a prefatory discourse. This annual volume was promised to each subscriber gratis, in page the eighth of their original Prospectus, dated 1791; but how many volumes have appeared in the twelve years is not publicly known.

Of the SCHOOL, there shall be a Professor of Veterinary Medicine, who is to continue superintendant of the whole. The Professor to be elected at a general meeting, and to have the sole arrangement and direction of the studies and occupations of the pupils of the school, of their matter and order, of the distribution of his lectures, of the number and nature of the subjects required for dissection. He shall likewise judge of the kind and quality of the forage to be used in the infirmary; of the regulation of the cattle therein, and of the remedies to be employed. The Professor to have a yearly income, or salary, to increase proportionally with the revenue of the College; but not to exceed a certain sum per annum. There shall be a Clerk to assist the Professor in keeping his books, and to follow his directions in entering and registering all the concerns of the school, infirmary, laboratory, and forge.

Rules respecting the PUPILS were these: Any person desirous of becoming a resident pupil, must be able to read and write well. The preference shall be given to such youths as shall have received the elements of a good education, and more especially to those who have some knowledge of surgery and pharmacy. Such candidate not being under the age of fifteen years, nor more than twenty-two, must apply to the Secretary, and deliver a paper, containing his name, age, and place of abode; and the Secretary shall refer the same to the next meeting of the Council or Permanent Committee. The resident pupils to be appointed by the Council, and to be taken as much as possible from different counties, for the better and more expeditious dissemination of the art. Each perpetual member (that is, a subscriber of not less than twenty guineas) to have the privilege of sending a pupil to attend a complete course of study. A library shall be annexed to the College, comprehending all such works as may contribute to enlarge and improve the veterinary science.

The studies for the pupils were divided into eight courses; after having regularly and diligently gone through all which practically, as well as theoretically, they were then to undergo a public examination in the theory and practice of every branch of the veterinary art; and those considered as perfectly qualified, were to receive a certificate, signed by the Professor, and confirmed by the Council. It was concluded at the publication of these original propositions, that the term for completing the education would not exceed three years, provided the pupils were equally capable, assiduous, and well-inclined. An INFIRMARY was to be opened for the reception of diseased animals belonging to the members of the College, at a fixed sum for their livery or subsistence, during the time they remained under cure. The annual subscription was originally not less than two guineas; and not less than twenty at one payment to become a perpetual member. These, however, may probably, amidst the many improvements made, have undergone various alterations.

It was at first supposed, from the great prospect of general utility, and universal accommodation, that the establishment would soon have been enabled to support itself upon the basis of public contribution and private subscriptions: this, however, did not prove to be the case; for in the month of April, 1795, precisely four years after its institution, a petition was presented to the House of Commons, praying pecuniary assistance for its support; which, from a consideration of its promised advantages, was soon unanimously complied with, and a large sum voted to its service. This was followed by an additional parliamentary grant of 1520l. in June 1797, since which it has also received farther national assistance. Whether the number of annual subscribers declining, or the aggregate not being adequate to the unavoidable expenditure of the establishment, and occasioned pecuniary deficiencies, it is not necessary to ascertain; evident it is, the establishment has been productive of one great and substantial service to the country, not more in respect to the general reformation and improvement of farriery, than in affording to the military cavalry scientific practitioners, of which they so very palpably stood in need.

Notwithstanding the advantages already resulting to the public at large, time alone can demonstrate what emoluments will be derived by the numerous individuals who were encouraged, by specious appearances, to embark in the undertaking: one thing seems at present incontrovertibly certain, that of those who have entered into the profession, the greater part did so with an intention (since confirmed) of becoming MASTERS immediately upon obtaining a certificate, and quitting the College; and hence it is we have a veterinary surgeon in every street and lane of the Metropolis, with as great a scarcity of expert journeymen as before the institution took place. Experience and attentive observation must have convinced every enlightened, humane, and liberal sportsman, that the shoeing-smith has a life of labour and drudgery, for which he is the least paid, and the worst looked upon, of any tradesman in the numerous catalogue of those who have a subsistence to obtain by the sweat of the brow.

That the science of shoeing, and system of farriery, has seldom or ever been undertaken or practised in this kingdom, but by men of the lowest order, and without the advantage of education, must be candidly and clearly admitted; the reason must be equally striking, and can stand in little or no need of elucidation. Are there any attractions (as they are now paid or compensated) beyond drudgery, degradation, and impending indigence? Incessant labour during the early part of life, and inevitable poverty in old age, have, for century upon century, been the hard-earned lot of nineteen out of every twenty shoeing-smiths from one extremity of the kingdom to the other. Can it be expected that those of much mental brilliancy, or manual dexterity, will prostitute both, and descend to so dangerous, so laborious, and so degrading an occupation, without even a chance of adequate compensation? These, it is to be presumed, are very fairly inferred reasons why the practice has always remained in a state of uncultivated sterility; from which even now it appears not to be permanently rescued; for, exclusive of the palpable inconveniencies, and discouraging prospects, already described, which, to a man of spirit and emulation, are sufficiently disgusting, when he adverts to the inferior rank he is in future destined to hold in the scale of society, he becomes conscious of his own insignificance; and, whatever education he may possess, or whatever knowledge he may have attained, he feels but little probability of being held in a degree of public estimation superior to the parochial scavenger or nightman.

Whether the refinement of a college education may give a more sublime complexion of respectability to the practice, and divest it of the distinguished appellation of "horse-doctor," with its collateral indignities, time alone must ascertain; it becoming here applicable only to consider the state and condition of those who have hitherto voluntarily placed their children to so laborious, so hazardous, and so unprofitable an employment. The poor most probably feel equal parental affection with the RICH, and would consequently venture as far to prevent their offspring from embarking in a service of danger: thus, then, it evidently is, the eyes of the most indigent, and the most illiterate, are equally open, and require not to be told, that the trade is a trade of constant labour, some danger, and little profit: they, of course, reject it with contempt; and it has been very weakly supplied even from the confines of a cottage, or the walls of a workhouse. If there can possibly remain "a doubt to hang a loop upon," let a moment's reflection solve the question, whether it can with consistency be conceived, that any man, in moderate circumstances, who had given his son a tolerable education, and had merely a few hundreds to give him, at the hour of his own dissolution, would ever, for one hour, indulge the idea or intent of placing him to a blacksmith? According to the principles and facts already laid down, it is to be presumed, that a circumstance so truly paradoxical and heterogeneous, has not often occurred, and, from present appearances, is not likely to be often repeated.

It is certainly a matter of general good, "most devoutly to be wished," that the present exertions to promote an improvement in the veterinary science may be ultimately successful, and that it may also tend rapidly to remove the paltry stigma of disgrace hitherto annexed to the practice; but to do this, more stimulative means must be attempted, than those already adopted, which have held out nothing but a flattering glare of emulation, without the least prospect of additional reward. There needs no "ghost from the grave" to demonstrate an incontrovertible fact, that the more the mind becomes expanded by the sublunary rays of intellectual refinement, the less it is disposed to encounter the subservience of drudgery, and the mortifying sensations of partial indifference and public contempt; from the influence of which impressive contemplation, it becomes conclusive, that very few, if any, who become proficients (at the College or elsewhere) in the study of PHYSIC, ANATOMY, and the peculiar property of medicine, will ever condescend to blend those qualifications so industriously acquired with the act of shoeing, but consider themselves in a degree superior to the leathern apron, the vulcanian sledge, the massy anvil, and such inferior offices annexed to the operative department, as will, in all human probability, continue it in the same state of predestined subordination.

However repugnant it may prove to the wishes and laudable endeavours of those patriotic, opulent, and distinguished characters, the President, Vice-Presidents, and Directors, as well as the great body of original subscribers to the establishment and support of the Veterinary College; it now seems unequivocally to appear, that one mode must be ultimately adopted, to produce the so much-desired stamp of success. When the practice of the VETERINARY SURGEON (or equestrian physician) and operative farrier (or shoeing-smith) become as distinct as the dignified diploma, and the pharmaceutic drudge; when the different pursuits necessary to the attainment of adequate scientific knowledge, are completed by the parties whose abilities are adapted to the departments they are intended to fill; and when both are much more amply rewarded than at present for their professional assistance; then, and not till then, will the practice become an object of sufficient attraction to men of genius, and intellectual capacity, capable of rendering its improvement matter of national utility; and general gratification to the inhabitants of a country where it has so long continued a subject of almost indelible disgrace.