CHAPTER XIX. 



VETERINARY NOTES. 



Drugs administered by the average stable servant do 

 more harm than good ; the reason being that the nature of 

 the malady and the effects of medicines are not understood. 

 Without a knowledge of anatomy and therapeutics it is un- 

 reasonable to suppose that a person can apply remedies with- 

 out, in many cases, committing great and often fatal injury 

 to the patient. It was the writer's intention to give as many 

 suggestions as were at his command regarding the treat- 

 ment of the horse in sickness, but for the following reasons 

 only the simplest cases are considered: first, the various 

 disorders to which the horse is heir and their remedies are 

 too numerous to be comprehensively dealt with in one or 

 two chapters ; second, the danger of such information being 

 misapplied ; and, third, the writer's belief that it is inex- 

 pedient for the average owner or his servant to assume the 

 responsibility of making a diagnosis, and applying drugs in 

 cases demanding the knowledge and skill of a practised vet- 

 erinary surgeon. 



" Next in point of annoyance to a groom or coachman sending for a 

 friend in the shape of a farrier to see and of course attend a sick or lame 

 horse is the groom taking him in hand himself; I mean in this case, of 

 course, an ordinary groom." 



" I do not mean that a man who knows what he is about need send his 

 horse on every trifling ailment to any veterinary surgeon ; but it is the cheap- 

 est plan for the man who does not." 



" But in sending to a professional, let me strongly recommend the most 



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