MALPRACTICE. 163 



ionated groom ; and every one, now-a-dajs, holds himself a 

 groom, who is trusted with the care of a horse, even if he 

 do not know how to clean him properly, or to feed him so 

 as not to interfere with his working hours. Every one of 

 these wretched fellows, who has no more idea of a horse's 

 structure or of his constitution than he has of the model of 

 a ship or the economy of an empire, is sure to have a thou- 

 sand infallible remedies for every possible disease, the 

 names of which he does not know, nor their causes, origin 

 or operation ; and which, if he did know their names, he 

 is entirely incapable of distinguishing, one from the other. 

 These remedies he applies at haphazard, wholly in the 

 dark as to their effect on the system in general, or on the 

 particular disease, and, of course, nine times out of ten he 

 applies them wrongfully, and aggravates fifty-fold the 

 injury he affects to be able to relieve. 



These are the fellows who are constantly administering 

 purgative balls, diuretic balls, cordial balls, on their own 

 hook, without advice, orders, or possible reason — and such 

 balls, too ! some of them scarcely less fatal than a cannon 

 ball — who are continaally drugging their horses with nitre 

 in their food, under an idea that it is cooling to the system 

 and that it makes the coat sleek and silky ; never suspect- 

 ing that it is a violent diuretic ; that its operation on the 

 kidneys is irritating and exhausting in the extreme , and 

 that the only way in which it cools the animal's system is 

 that it reduces his strength and acts as a serious drain on 

 his constitution. These, lastly, are the fellows who are 

 constantly applying liot oils, fiery irritants, and stimulants, 

 to wounds, strains, bruises, or contusions, which in them- 

 selves produce violent inflammation, and to which, requir- 

 ing as they do the exhibition of mild and soothing remedies, 

 cold lotions, or warm fomentations, the application of these 

 stimulating, volatile essences is much what it would be to 



