163 



But often this is found to be a mistake ; and, on another case occur- 

 ring, the merest pretender is sent for, to avoid the cost of employing 

 the scientific man ! Such instances are not, I regret to say, un- 

 common ; and thus the fair fame of the regular and successful 

 practitioner is put in jeopardy, by being called in at the eleventh 

 hour, while the preceding ten have been lost in malpractice. I may 

 be allowed to express a hope that my remarks may be instrumental 

 in drawing attention to this subject, and that more regard may be 

 devoted to our too much neglected domestic animals, in the necessary 

 application of medicines for their relief. Now, when we consider the 

 value of the horse when living, and his worthless carcass when dead, 

 we think his well-being is worthy of our consideration ; and thus he is 

 referred to as the leading subject of many of our remarks. 



The cow is valued according to the quantity and quality of her 

 milk, and when that diminishes, she is hurried off to make way for 

 another, herself paying the principal cost of the exchange. Not so 

 with the dead horse. 



To show the lamentable ignorance of many of those who have 

 charge of the lives of animals entrusted to them, I will relate a fact 

 I know to be true. Some time since, one of those pretenders to 

 veterinary knowledge attended a horse belonging to a gentleman in 

 the vicinity of Boston. The horse died : when the owner inquired 

 the cause of his death, the horse-doctor answered that he died of 

 inflammation of the gall bladder. Now, the horse has no'gall bladder, 

 but the learned doctor did not know it ! These men have usually 

 some recipe (of great value, but a profound secret !) for the cure 

 of every ailment a horse is liable to. We still live in an age of 

 empiricism, both in human and veterinary practice, when Brandreth 

 and Swaim can contrive to amass their one hundred or two hundred 

 thousand dollars, by gulling the community with the astounding 

 virtues of their pills and panaceas. But the veterinary art begins 

 to assume the aspect of a science in this country. Its professors and 

 practitioners are becoming not only more numerous, but begin to 

 reckon as among them persons of talent and education. 



There has been a period in this country, when veterinary 

 medicine was confined, almost exclusively, to persons who con- 

 sidered an attainment in scientific knowledge was in no way con- 

 ducive to its successful pursuit ; by whom the possession of a few 

 recipes, and a little mechanical tact, were deemed sufficient passports 



