404 ADDITIONAL 



employers) a very confiderable portion of their 

 earnings to gratify this ftrange infatuation. But 

 the evil does not reft here, mifchievous inven- 

 tion has gone ftill further, and they frequently 

 apply oil of vitriol^ and even aquafortis^ upon the 

 tongue of the horfe, to prevent, as they fay, '^ his 

 " taking cold by the ufe of the before-mentioned 

 *' ingredients." However abfurd, inconfiftent, 

 cruely or unnatural, this pradice may appear, 

 to fuch as are unacquainted with the low cun- 

 ing or ruftic fineffe of thofe employed in the 

 manaeement of what are called *' cart ilables," 

 I aver the fadt, as repeatedly brought home to 

 perfonal knowledge and experience; afferting 

 likewife its having occafionally coft me much 

 trouble in endeavouring to deter the parties 

 from fo injurious and deftrudive a pradice, by 

 which alone many fine and valuable horfes 

 have been doomed to difquietude, difeafe, and 

 fometimes death-, the caufe remaining a matter 

 of myftery to all but the inhuman perpetrators. 

 So palpable a fad ftands in need of no farther 

 animadverfion, being introduced merely to 

 prove that *' fuch things are," and how evi- 

 dently neceffary the eye of circumfpedion be- 

 comes in the m.after, to counterad the mif- 

 chievous imprudence of the fervant, 



Wc 



