THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 95 



charitable as it grows more enlightened, and so more 

 dispassionate in its treatment of the ignorant or vic- 

 ious ; but such a man would be prosecuted for mal- 

 practice and turned out of the profession. Yet, to- 

 day, I am forced to believe that this gentleman fairly 

 represents the profession. Had this horse, fat as he 

 was, been put, as soon as purchased, to steady work, 

 and on a plain, natural diet, restricted to two meals 

 and to an amount, altogether, that would have sus- 

 tained him while the soft fat was being absorbed and 

 cast off, and the muscles being made clean and full ; 

 had he been worked every day from the beginning, 

 not beyond, but up to his strength, the latter would 

 have increased every day and he would have been 

 made over new, just as in the case described on page 

 24, without the least danger of founder. 



Of course it is not to be imagined that a purge, a 

 blister, the loss of a few quarts of blood, and the ad- 

 ministration of a 15-drop dose of aconite — however 

 depleting, however cruel — would end the life of a 

 young horse that was *' fit to survive ! " Far from it. 

 And so, three days afterward, this horse had appar- 

 ently made good his loss. But it was a loss, all the 

 same ; a loss without the shadow of a gain, unless we 

 put a value on the amusement afforded to the igno- 

 rant stable boys, and their wonder at the marvelous 

 skill displayed by the veterinary surgeon, especially 

 in making the patient full-breasted with an air- 

 blister ! 



