404 ADDITIONAL 



and full in flesh : indeed, so strongly are they 

 bigotted to the opinion in many (but par- 

 ticularly the western) parts of England, that 

 they expend (unknown to their employers) 

 a very considerable portion of their earnings 

 to gratify this strange infatuation. But the 

 evil does not rest here ; mischievous inven- 

 tion has gone still further, and they fre- 

 quently npp]y oil of vitriol, and even aquafortis, 

 upon the tongue of the horse, to prevent, as 

 they say, '' his taking cold by the use of the 

 *' before-mentioned ingredients/' However 

 absurd, inconsistent, cruel, or unnatural, this 

 practice may appear, to such as are unac- 

 quainted with the low cunning or rustic 

 finesse of those employed in the management 

 of what are called '* cart stables,"' I aver the 

 fact, as repeatedly brought home to personal 

 knowledge and experience ; asserting liJvC- 

 wise its having occasionally cost me much 

 trouble m endeavouring to deter the parties 

 from so injurious and destructive a prac- 

 tice^ by which alone many fine and valuable 

 liorses have been doomed to disquiet ude^ 

 disease, and sometimes death, the cause re- 

 maining a matter of mystery to all l^ut the 

 inhuman perpetrators. So palpable a fact 



