64 PHYSIC. 



a power of locomotion. A man is bound to go, to see, to hear patiently, 

 and to judge conscientiously, of tliat which is done to the lives intrusted 

 to his responsibility. Had this duty been discharged, many processes, 

 still sanctioned by custom, might have fallen into disuse ; some habits, 

 now indulged, might have been discarded ; while a few objectionable 

 measures might have been altogether forbidden as useless formalities and 

 needless cruelties. 



Horse Balls — particular forms of veterinary medicine — are generally 

 sent to stables by the dozen. Physic is thus placed at the pleasure or 

 the caprice of ignorance to administer. The author has seen a large 

 chest full of such abominations — looking very pretty, and made up all 

 of one size, each labeled, and bearing some distinctive title — directed to 

 an English nobleman resident in the country. Such a supply, the writer 

 was informed, is dispatched to "my lord's" address twice in each year, 

 and is always used by the grooms, and by the stated period, in accord- 

 ance with the accompanying directions. 



The only safeguard attending such implements of destruction was that 

 the majority were harmless, either from the worthless nature of the drugs 

 composing them, or from the change which took place between the agents 

 being compounded and at the time of their being employed. Many, no 

 doubt, were thrown away ; but that fact excuses neither the professional 

 man who sent them, the honorable person who ordered them, or the igno- 

 rant servants by whom they were accepted. Each was impressed with 

 a belief that such things were potent. It is astonishing how much of 

 this world's sin is gilt over by its credulity. All concerned regarded 

 these things as mysterious projectiles, strong enough to regulate the 

 eccentricities of health and powerful enough to vanquish the dangers 

 of disease. 



One form of ball, however, is neither innocuous nor safe — it is the 

 aloetic. Aloes is the common purgative of the stable. So general was 

 the use of the drug, and so unquestioning appears to have, formerly, been 

 the confidence lavished upon its operation, that this medicine always took 

 the precedence in every sickness, and, ultimately, by popular consent, 

 engrossed to itself the significant term of "physic." "Has this horse 

 had physic?" — "Prepare this horse for physic" — when spoken in the 

 stable, signify, has such an animal had aloes ? or imply an order that 

 another quadruped is to be prepared for a dose of aloes. The groom 

 can only imagine that to be worthy of the title "physic," which is 

 capable of producing visible effects ; and, certainly, when judged by the 

 stable-man's standard, aloes merits the distinction bestowed upon its 

 drastic results. 



Other things will move the bowels of the horse, and will empty its 



