PHYSIC 117 



before we apply our theory, we should be acquainted 

 with the constitution of the subject to be operated 

 upon ; neither must we lose sight of local circumstances 

 and exceptions. 



I was once flogged at school for making a rule 

 absolute when it was not so, and I have never for- 

 gotten the lesson. Notwithstanding this, I am one 

 of those who for some years of my life submitted to 

 the practice of my groom to give my horses three 

 doses of physic in succession at the commencement of 

 their being what is called "got into condition for work" ; 

 and I am almost ashamed to add, that, without 

 taking the trouble to give it a moment's consideration, 

 I was led to join with him in his creed that less would 

 not do, for the two first stirred up the humours, and the 

 last carried them off ! My better judgment at length 

 convinced me that this practice was an erroneous one, 

 often productive of serious mischief, and by no means 

 to be made general. Common sense might at first 

 dictate to us, in these words — " If your horse be well 

 why physic him at all ? " Experience, however, has 

 proved to us, that, to guard against the preternatural 

 excitement produced by high keep and strong work, 

 a sort of periodical evacuation of the system by the 

 bowels is necessary to preserve the health, if not the 

 life of a horse, as repletion would be almost invariably 

 the consequence ; but why these three doses are to 

 be hurried indiscriminately through every horse that 

 is to be prepared for hunting, in the month of July or 

 August, I have yet to learn : and what led me to a 

 serious and rational consideration of this subject, so 



