12 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



livered in their books, formed a strange medley 

 of ancient metaphysical notions, blended with 

 deductions from the vague and uncertain ex- 

 perience of illiterate men. Much of it seemed 

 the result of mere ignorance and caprice, no 

 little of pure distraction. 



For example, in a case oi farcy. Dr. Gray 

 orders the medicine to be administered to the 

 ears of the Horse, and stretched up therein. 

 In case of lameness, a turf was to be cut and 

 secreted ; and, in proportion as the turf de- 

 cayed and wasted, so would the lameness ! 

 Various of their operations, in which no 

 shadow of reason or possible utility seems 

 discernible, were pursued with measures of 

 horrible barbarity : for example, in Markham, 

 the cure by the fire, or knife, for the falling of 

 the crest I These men seem to have exhausted 

 their wits in the discovery of ingenious and 

 knowing feats of cruelty ; and it is a phrase 

 with Markham, " Other torments there are." 



The art of shoeing the Horse had retrograded 

 from the original practice of the Italian far- 

 riers, which, however imperfect, yet formed a 

 sufficient outline for a rational system. It had 

 become the universal practice to -pare away 

 the frog and soles of the Horse's foot ; and, by 

 way of making amends for such loss of sub- 

 stance, to substitute a shoe of massive iron, so 

 long as to project beyond the heels. It must, 

 however, be acknowledged, that a far moie 

 rational practice obtained amongst those who 

 had the superintendance of that peculiar 

 species of Horses appropriated to the business 

 of the turf, not only with respect to shoeing, 

 but every other branch of management; and, 

 as the foreign and racing species has been the 

 grand source of improvement for our British 

 saddle and coach breeds, so the jockey system 

 of equitation, and general treatment of the 



Horse, allowing its progressively amending 

 defects, has ever possessed a characteristic 

 and acknowledged superiority in this country. 



Such was the state of farriery and Veteri- 

 nary practice in the early part of the eighteenth 

 century, when the former, or Horse medicine 

 and surgery, attracted the attention of William 

 Gibson who had acted in Queen Anne's war* 

 as an army surgeon, and appears by his writ- 

 ings to have been a man of much practical 

 knowledge and sound judgment. 



He was the first professional man who at- 

 tempted to improve Veterinary science, which 

 he effected in a plain and popular way ; 

 grounded on the analogy between the human 

 and brute physiology, of course between the 

 human and animal medicine. 



The appearance of Gibson's book on far- 

 riery, forms an era in Veterinary annals ; and 

 his system in fundamentals has ever been, and 

 is at this moment, the basis of our superior 

 Veterinary practice. He lived to publish a 

 new edition of his chief work, about the middle 

 of the eighteenth century. 



Dr. Bracken, a physician of Lancaster, a 

 vulgar, desultory, captious, and petulant writer, 

 yet a profound and enlightened reasoner, and 

 of great ability in his profession, in a few years 

 followed the laudable example of Gibson, and 

 turned his attention to Veterinary medicine. 

 He was an excellent practical judge of the 

 animal on which he treated ; and his work on 

 farriery is a standard with respect to the 

 jockey, or peculiar English system — a branch 

 which had been left untouched by Gibson. 



Bartlet, a surgeon in Bow-street, Covent- 

 garden, was a most respectable, intelligent, 

 and useful compiler from Gibson and Bracken, 

 whose labours he circumscribed and improved. 

 He also first introduced the new, but Iiypotlie- 



