LETTER X 



ON THE FOOT — In continuation 



"It is absurd to suppose there are no final causes, because we do 

 not see the efficient cause. The equality of three angles of a triangle 

 with two right angles, cannot be made to be, though there may 

 be some other thing prior to it, without which it cannot be. My 

 horse, which is lame, cannot be made lame, though there may 

 be a cause for his being so : — there may be a naU in his foot." 



Petwin's " Letters on the Mind." 



WE attempt in vain to account for some 

 of the dispensations of Providence, but 

 to suffer seems the natural attribute 

 of mortaUty. The natural diseases, how- 

 ever, of horses are but few ; and, in justice to humanity, 

 it must be admitted that they, as well as others which 

 owe their existence to man, have occupied their share 

 of attention ; and we cannot, without impeaching 

 the mercy of the Creator, for a moment imagine that 

 there are many diseases without their remedies. It 

 is, however, a maxim in physic that to find out the 

 disease and its cause is half the cure ; though it often 

 happens that the former is the more dififtcult point to 

 accomplish. 



I conclude my last letter with some observations 

 on the foot of the horse, with a promise of continuing 



them in this. " When the ploughman took the helm," 

 136 



