70 



PHYSIC. 



appears to be such a refinement upon ordinary barbarity as must puzzle 

 the reader to discover a motive to excuse. 



THE NATtJKAL CONSEQUENCE WHICH IS TO BE EXPECTED WHENEVER THE PIITHT CUSTOM OP POUMNO 

 DBINKS INTO THE NASAL CHAMBER OF A HORSE IS ADOPTED. 



a a. The windpipe. 



b b. The gullet. 



cc. The soft palate. 



d. The tongue. 



The fact appears the more monstrous when we consider the practice 

 i& adopted by the veterinary surgeon, and that it is exhibited upon the 

 sick horse whose welfare he is especially bound to conserve. The irri- 

 tation consequent upon so abhorrent an abuse cannot but be most pre- 

 judicial to that quietude which is, upon every form of existence, healing 

 in its effect. The motive which prompts so outrageous a proceeding is 

 the love of display, acting upon an ignorant or unscrupulous individual ; 

 joined to this, is the knowledge that medicine can be administered with 

 greater speed than when delivered according" to the natural method. The 

 horse has no power to check the course of any liquid emptied into the 

 nostril of the elevated head ; whereas the animal will frequently occupy 

 a considerable time before a fluid, delivered by the mouth, is swallowed. 

 By one canal, the will is powerless; by the other channel, volition is 

 operative. To save his time, as well as to excite surprise, are the only 

 motives which can prompt a careless man to tamper with that welfare 

 it is his duty to tenderly protect. 



To render this subject the more intelligible to the reader, the natural 

 process which enables the horse to imbibe liquids shall here be detailed. 

 The mouth of this animal is peculiar for having at its backward ex- 



