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confounded. Still tliere is hope, and, though at a late hour, much 

 good may be done. Owners of horses and cattle have to thank 

 themselves for a great proportion of the losses they suffer ; their 

 most extraordinary persistence in the opinion, that the teamster, 

 groom, or coachman, or the itinerant quack, (who invariably comes 

 from the lowest and most ignorant of the people,) is the sole 

 depositary of the science, abstruse as it is, and, as yet, unexplored; 

 that such men as these could alone know and treat all the maladies 

 to which horses and cattle are liable. 



How often have I been taunted, in the prosecution of my practice, 

 that the teamster, or hostler, must know as well as I, or better, 

 because he daily fed, groomed, and worked the animals. In other 

 •words, that the men who know how to clean the stable and cow- 

 house, and drive cattle to pasture, or water, must imbibe themselves 

 more knowledge than the man studying the subject, coupled 

 ■with all the knowledge of routine attendance, (of -which they are so 

 proud,) could possibly attain, and thus throw light on points involved 

 in obscurity, or overlaid by ignorance, and reduce, thereby, to simple 

 rules and simple treatment, diseases hitherto fatal. However, gen- 

 tlemen, what is passed cannot be recalled. But if the agriculturists, 

 as a body, will only encourage veterinary surgeons in their efforts, 

 they will find those who are willing and able to carry out the subject 

 to its fullest extent. But, above all things, that incubus which rests 

 upon the whole subject of veterinary medicine, must be cast off. I 

 mean that load of nostrums, false views, and that host of rubbish 

 which has been so long accumulating, and which sprang from ignor- 

 ance and folly. Let this be done, and read that book which never 

 errs, and which is so open and legible that he who runs may read — 

 the good book of nature ; and much that appears wrapped in mystery 

 and attended with difficulties, (if not impossibilities,) will become 

 unfolded, and prove to be simple and easy of remedy, when referred 

 to its real cause. 



It would seem hardly necessary for me to show how indispensable 

 is a knowledge of the proper treatment of domestic animals to the 

 farmer : to him who makes the most use of these animals, and whose 

 wealth is, in a^great degree, comprised in their possession and proper 

 treatment. But there are many truths, which require to be often 

 repeated to be borne in mind, especially when by a long-continued 

 course of erroneous management, what is wrong becomes to be con- 



