THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 85 



and fill many pages with matter not irrelevant upon the 

 treatment of lamenesses, by gleanings from professional 

 lore ; but it will be far easier for you, in any case re- 

 quiring more than common attention, to send for the 

 veterinarian professor of your district, and you will profit 

 far more by his timely assistance than by the practical use 

 of the most that could be written for your learning. As a 

 simple rule, in the observance of which you cannot err, 

 whenever you have reason to suspect that the foot is the 

 seat of lameness, ofl' with the shoe in the first instance, 

 and place the foot in a poultice ; or, which is still better, 

 let the horse stand up to his knee in hot water. 

 Your stable should be provided with buckets made for 

 this especial purpose. The benefits of hot water, as 

 applied externally to the animal frame of man or beast, 

 are incalculable. I say externally, not wishing to be 

 mistaken either for a chsciple of Sangrado, or for a tee- 

 totaller. The effects of constant fomentation are per- 

 fectly incredible to those who have not been eye-wit- 

 nesses of the almost miraculous way in which inflam- 

 mations and swellings have been reduced, by this very 

 simple remedy. The power of hot water might seem 

 to bear some aiiinity to that of its own condensed 

 vapour — the mighty steam — considering that, amidst all 

 the arcana of a racing stable, nothing has rendered more 

 eftectual service, upon an emergency. It is not long 

 since a great favourite for the Derby was disabled, the day 



