CHAPTER II. 



PHYSIC, THE MODE OF ADMINISTERING IT, AND MINOR OPERATIONS. 



Let the reader ask any gentleman of his acquaintance, "Whether 

 man is not morally answerable for the welfare of those animals which 

 are gathered beneath his roof?" The individual thus appealed to wiU 

 most probably lean back in his easy chair, and, with a look of amiable 

 surprise, may reply " Certainly I certainly I Assuredly, my dear sir, I 

 regard myself as fully responsible I Every horse in my stable costs me 

 one hundred pounds, or very nearly, a year. The poor animals ought 

 to be well looked after for that money 1 Clerks — many young city 

 men — receive only fifty pounds annually — from respectable houses too. 

 Therefore, my horses ought to be especially well cared for!" 



But to drive this matter home, allow the author, with all humility, to 

 inquire if it be in the power of money to discharge the smallest or the 

 slightest moral bond ? Is there no difference between paying and doing ? 

 May there not be certain duties which are equally stringent upon the 

 very rich and the very poor ? Can the wealthy compound for such obli- 

 gations, and are the needy, only, to be judged for the non-fulfillment of 

 these responsibilities ? 



It is among the worst features of modern society that, while it boasts 

 of several worthy gentlemen who can draw largely upon their bankers, 

 there are in its ranks so very few, who would willingly submit to the 

 smallest personal exertion for the fulfillment of that which they confess to 

 be a moral duty. "Would these most agreeable and amiable individuals 

 occasionally lounge toward the stable, the cost of its maintenance might 

 be decreased, and, nevertheless, the creatures for whose welfare the 

 owner is confessedly responsible be better treated at the diminished 

 outlay. 



When a dumb slave fails in the service of some affluent proprietor, all 

 that might be done is not accomplished when an order is hastily given 

 "to call in" a veterinary surgeon. It is not sufficient that baskets of 

 drugs are delivered and paid for ; that physicking and bleeding are prac- 

 ticed and remunerated; that a "horse doctor" is constant in his attend- 

 ance, or that a building, by its odor, attests to the activity of his meas- 

 ures. No. Man is formed capable of investigation, and is blessed with 



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