4 i2 STABLE SERVANTS. 



that grooms, knowing that they can get similar drugs from 

 so-called veterinary chemists, often imagine that they 

 can treat the diseases of horses as well as qualified men. 

 The proper attitude of a veterinary surgeon towards a 

 stud groom or coachman in charge, is that of a doctor 

 towards a hospital nurse, who receives directions free from 

 mystery. To make the parallel complete, men in charge 

 of horses should have special instruction, so that they might 

 be able to intelligently carry out the course of treatment laid 

 down by the veterinarian. Until head stablemen are educated 

 up to this point, we cannot hope for much improvement in 

 the care of sick horses. 



I believe that those veter'nary surgeons who object to dis- 

 close to laymen the procedure they adopt in the treatment of 

 a case, are generally actuated by the idea that if they were to 

 do so, they would be taking the bread out of their own mouths 

 on future occasions, by making the laymen as wise as them- 

 selves. Here again comes in the fallacy that medicine is all 

 important in the treatment of disease ; the fact being that the 

 great merit in a physician is his ability to find what is the 

 matter with the patient. The more employers and stablemen 

 recognise the fact that advice is of far greater value than 

 medicine, the more will they esteem the services of veterinary 

 surgeons and the better will their horses thrive. A wise 

 owner will have his horses periodically inspected by a veter- 

 inary surgeon, without whose orders no medicine of any kind 

 should be given in the stable. He may then rest assured that 

 the less medicine his animals receive, the more efficiently are 

 they looked after by their professional attendant ; for pre- 

 vention is better than cure. 



RESPECT DUE FROM STABLE SERVANTS TO THEIR MASTERS. 



Under this heading I shall include the mistress when 

 speaking of the master, so as to avoid needless repetition. On 



