HO THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



some twilight remaining, which the bright sunshine 

 of knowledge and experience has yet to dispel. Hap- 

 pening to go to London the latter end of September 

 1823, I was requested by a friend in the country to 

 purchase a hunter for him, for which purpose I went 

 to the Bazaar. There I got into conversation with 

 Mr Turner, the head veterinary surgeon to this splendid 

 establishment, and who also so well performed his 

 part in the rostrum on the auction days. On my looking 

 at the feet of some horses, and making some observa- 

 tions on them which were in unison with his ideas and 

 practice, he entered freely into the subject, and at 

 last spoke of " the navicular disease." Now it so 

 happened (and here I must expose my ignorance), 

 that though I knew there was such a joint in the foot 

 as this, yet I was ignorant of its technical appellation ^ ; 

 and therefore was obliged to ask for an explanation, 

 which, in the most obliging and scientific manner, he 

 instantly furnished me with ; at the same time inform- 

 ing me that the discovery of this disease, as the seat 

 of navicular lameness, was due to a brother of his, who 

 practised the veterinary art at Croydon in Surrey. 



Being all for demonstration, when I can get it, and 

 convinced that there are but two ways of obtaining 

 knowledge — one from our own experience, and the 

 other from the experience of others — I obtained from 

 his brother an introduction to Mr Turner, and waited 

 on him at his residence at Croydon, where I found he 

 was the son of an eminent practitioner of his art. 



^ I knew this bone by the name of the nut, or shuttle bone, and 

 was also aware of the joint it formed with the flexor. 



