OF FARRIERY. 



13 



ticai and impracticable, system of short shoe- 

 ing, which had then lately been promulgated 

 in France by La Fosse, a farrier of consider- 

 able science, and a great practical Veterinary 

 anatomist. Bartlet candidly gave the rules of 

 La Fosse for shoeing Horses, without pretend- 

 ing to any great practical knowledge of the 

 subject ; and these rules, speculative as they 

 were, had yet the beneiicial effect of operating 

 a considerable improvement on English prac- 

 tice. 



Fortunately, the affair was soon after taken 

 in hand by William Osmer, a surgeon and a 

 sportsman, who had great practical know- 

 ledge of the Horse, and particularly of the race- 

 horse ; that species which, while it improves 

 every other, requires the greatest attention, 

 and in an especial manner with regard to shoe- 

 ing and the treatment of the feet. Osmer 

 commenced Veterinaiy surgeon, and published 

 an excellent and practical, although whimsi- 

 cally written book, on horse-shoeing, in which 

 he reduced the speculative rules of La Fosse 

 to the standard of his own and of English ex- 

 perience. His book has not probably been 

 hitherto excelled in point of utility ; and being- 

 written in a plain and popular way, is adapted 

 to the capacities of shoeing-smiths. 



The Earl of Pembroke also wrote a short 

 and excellent treatise on the same subject. 

 Practical horse-shoeing, and care of the feet, 

 and on the education of the military Horse. 



Berenger, about the same time, published a 

 respectable work on the grand manage. 



Mr. Clarke, the king s farrier for Scotland, 

 has two valuable treatises on shoeing, and on 

 the prevention of the diseases of Horses. 



The eighteenth century was abundantly 

 fruitful in Veterinary pursuits and publications. 

 France took the lead ; but a zeal foi- the im- 



D 



provement ol this branch of science also per- 

 vaded in Germany, and the nortliei n states ; 

 and colleges were established in various coun- 

 tries, wherein the science has been since 

 regularly cultivated. Baron Haller collated 

 the various continental writers on black cattle 

 and sheep : another catalogue of them may 

 also be found in the Giournal di Literati of 

 Italy. Since these collections, the number of 

 Veterinary writers has been immense on the 

 continent, not improbably for a reason already 

 assigned. Few, or none of them, have been 

 translated into our language, excepting de- 

 tached parts of the works of the eminent 

 French writers La Fosse and Bourgelat. Our 

 late professor Saintbel was a disciple of these 

 celebrated Veterinarians. But the contiiieiutal 

 Veterinary system is not altogether calculated 

 for the practice of this country. One great 

 proof of which presents itself in the failure of 

 the celebrated method of shoeing by La Fosse. 

 The French have improved the anatomical and 

 surgical branches of the Veterinary art, rather 

 than the medical ; the English have made the 

 greatest improvements in the latter : it is not 

 improbably a parallel case with respect to hu- 

 man medicine. 



We now come to the establishment of a 

 Veterinary college at St. Pancras, London, in 

 1792, for the treatment of the diseases of all 

 domestic animals. But it is to be lamented, 

 that the liffht of Veterinary science has 

 hitherto shined but dimly and imperfectly o» 

 domestic animals in general, excepting th* 

 Horse. A great number of Veterinary publi 

 cations have issued from the press within this 

 last period : from the tw o professors Saintbei 

 and Coleman, Mr. Bracy Clark, Messrs. \V hit<i 

 Boardman, Blane, Mr. ^V^ Percival, besides a 

 number of others of a minor considerauott 



