CONDITION OF HUNTERS RESUMED 267 



season. My treatment has always been this : A 

 dose of physic, and foment till inflammation subsides, 

 then gently stimulate. 



It may be here remarked, that giving up a horse 

 for the season is pleasanter in theory than in practice. 

 Admitted : but in the end it will prove economy ; 

 and let it be remembered, that in all stables of hunters 

 which are ridden anywhere near hounds, the calcu- 

 lation scarcely admits of not more than four sound 

 horses in five. Injuries of this nature are best left 

 in the hands of a veterinary surgeon. 



BROKEN KNEES AND USE OF KNEE-CAPS 



I have little to offer here. The first two hunters 

 I ever possessed having broken their knees on the 

 road, made me careful in the use of knee-caps for 

 travelling, when the mischief generally occurs. I can 

 remember when these things, called knee-caps, were 

 a constant source of torment, not only for ever coming 

 loose and slipping down, but seriously injuring the 

 skin in wet weather. 



I have no faith in the various nostrums for the 

 cure of broken knees. When inflammation is subdued 

 we must trust to nature for the rest. Mr W. Percivall 

 tells us (Lecture 33),^ " that if the cutis vera, and 

 consequently the bulbs of the hair, be injured, a scar, 

 or bare place, is the consequence — a few light-coloured 

 or white hairs only growing upon the place, which 

 appear to be the offspring of defective pulps." 



^ A series of veterinary lectures published nearly a century 

 ago. — Editor. 



