HAMPDEN SOCIETY. 217 



Horses. 



Being well aware that the large number of horses brought 

 forward to-day is but a fractional part of all those owned 

 within the limits of this society, your committee would re- 

 spectfully call attention to a subject which seems to have been 

 heretofore disregarded, viz. : the diffusion of a general knowl- 

 edge among the members of the society, of the more common 

 diseases and accidents to which horses and domestic cattle are 

 liable, and a proper treatment for them. 



It cannot be expected that any plan could be effected by 

 which every farmer or individual possessing a horse would be- 

 come an accomplished and scientific veterinary surgeon, yet we 

 would suggest whether some measure might not be devised, by 

 which the farmer may be enabled, in common cases of disease 

 to act with judgment and promptness ; or at least to divest 

 him of some of the absurd opinions and strange prejudices, rife 

 in the community, which often produce prolonged disease, and 

 sacrifice the usefulness, if not the lives, of many valuable 

 animals. 



As is well known, in England and in continental Europe 

 generally, veterinary surgery is regarded as a department of 

 science inferior to none other, while in our own country, the 

 maladies of domestic animals are entrusted, for the most part, 

 to the care of untaught, unscientific farriers, or presumptuous 

 grooms, the fatality of whose treatment is only commensurate 

 with their want of scientific knowledge, and with their pre- 

 sumption. 



Believing that the importance of this subject is sufficiently 

 felt, your committee would most respectfully submit the above 

 suggestions for the consideration of the society. 



In conclusion they would remark, that the display of horses 

 was unusually large and spirited, and in desiring to discharge 

 their duties justly, the committee endeavored to judge of 

 the merits of each animal presented by its intrinsic worth, 

 making all proper allowances for the difference in appearance 

 between those which have been steadily worked during the 

 season, and those which have seen less of hard service. They 



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