142 Diseases of the Horse. 



three, when administered by persons ignorant of their 

 nature, may form a poisonous mixture which kills the 

 patient, the secret coming to light on a careful post mortem 

 examination. The list of remedies is a long one ; many 

 are of special character, and appropriate only in particular 

 cases, and for separate animals. From these circum- 

 stances the practice of veterinary medicine calls for a 

 great amount of skill, accurate observation, and sound 

 judgment. The patient is speechless, but he appeals by 

 a power which speaks loudly through important signs. A 

 study of his ailments and their treatment by remedies, 

 medical and surgical, is, therefore, not a simple matter. 

 Attempts have been made to prove the opposite, with 

 the result, irreparable injustice and cruelty to the animal, 

 and prostitution of a science to a grade below the meanest 

 degree of mechanical skill. Rightly estimated it may 

 engage the attention of men of science and high social 

 position, and secure the commendation of observant and 

 thinking professors in other schools of thought. Viewed 

 as an occupation for which grooms, coachmen, carters, 

 shepherds, and cowherds only are eligible, it must de- 

 generate to empty quackery, the end of its utility and 

 application having arrived. 



PATHOLOGY OR THE CONDITIONS OF DISEASE. 



Subsequent chapters will be devoted to an enumera- 

 tion of the various ailments of the horse, and a considera- 

 tion of the signs or symptoms by which an ailment or 

 disease is recognised. During late years much valuable 

 information has been acquired by means of close inves- 

 tigation. The category, by no means a meagre one, has 

 been augmented. Clearer views are now held on subjects 

 hitherto regarded as undetermined or doubtful, and the 

 general method of dealing with disease is thus far satis- 

 factorily, but not finally, improved. 



The plan of grouping diseases will not have much 

 interest for the general reader, and we may dismiss the 

 subject with the declaration that the pathologist, feeHng 

 himself immensely at home in it, renders invaluable aid 

 by indicating the outline of methods by which the malady 



