242 A PROPHETIC REPUTATION. 



animal ; and by the other, because he has been the 

 means of saddling him with a heavy loss. 



Is it any wonder, then, that veterinary surgeons be- 

 come so nervous and over-fearful of stating that a horse 

 is sound, that they will scarcely ever allow a horse to 

 pass through their hands without some imputation as to 

 the probable chances of unsoundness ? 



They are forced to protect their own characters, and 

 the only means they have of doing so is to reject 

 seventy-five per cent, of all the horses that are brought 

 to them for examination. 



Moreover, there is an additional reason, for their 

 credit's sake, why they should be so sparing of a certi- 

 ficate of soundness. 



If a veterinary surgeon reject a horse because he 

 apprehends the existence of some specified disease in 

 futurity, and that disease happen to show itself in the 

 course of two or three years, he will forthwith be 

 lauded to the skies for his supernatural powers of 

 perception, and will assuredly become a prophetic pro- 

 fessional ever after ; not only in his own imagination, 

 but in that of a circle of friends and employers. 



On the value of such a reputation, I have known 

 very many set great store ; but it invariably renders 

 them ridiculous amongst the only persons capable of 

 judging, viz., horse-dealers, trainers, and those of their 

 own profession, who are in the habit of rightly imput- 

 ing their successes to a low sort of cunning, and not to 

 real ability. 



For it is little short of cunning of the lowest order to 



