140 THE COMPLETE HORSEMAN 



deplorable want of proper professional guidance 

 in the country. The increasing value of stock 

 of all kinds also spurred veterinary science on, 

 on the upward track, but Rome was not built 

 in a day and there was some time to wait before 

 thoroughly qualified Veterinary Surgeons were 

 to be found stationed all over the country. 



During what may be called the transitional 

 period many owners of horses, knowing well 

 that they were better informed on the subject 

 of Horses' ailments than the cow doctor, read 

 largely the books and articles which were pub- 

 lished from time to time and, with the eagerness 

 which is characteristic of the amateur, laid in 

 good store of drugs and were never so happy 

 as when they had pestle and mortar in hand, 

 or as when, in a mxcasuring glass of orthodox 

 shape and large size they were mixing various 

 vile -smelling liquids. In my boyhood I had a 

 considerable experience of an establishment con- 

 ducted on these lines. My relative, to whom 

 I have referred more than once in these pages, 

 dearly loved a ' screv/,' not because he was a 

 screw, but because he thought he could trans- 

 form him into a sound horse. Occasionally this 

 happened but I need not emphasise the fact 

 that success came but seldom. When it came 

 along however it was the occasion of a quiet 

 but none the less emphatic triumph. 



One instance is perhaps worth recording. 

 We had had a long and very briUiant run and 

 killed our fox, and out of a large field that had 



