76 KOTITIA VBNATICA. 



Althougli hunting has been the moat fashionable amusement amongst 

 the gentry of England for many centuries, strange it is that the ma- 

 nagement of the hound, upon wliich animal all the hopes of success in 

 the chase entirely depend, has been too frequently intrusted to a class of 

 men whose gross ignorance, in many instances, has only been surpassed 

 by their obstinacy. 



That some huntsmen are exceedingly skilful in their vocation, and 

 eminently successful in their treatment of many of the diseases with 

 which hounds are afflicted, all must admit ; but the generahty of them 

 are ignorant and uneducated men, Avho, by an indiscriminate and injudi- 

 cious application, often ruin the credit of medicines and processes which, 

 in o-ood hands, might otherwise have succeeded to the utmost wishes of 

 the most sanguine. Such self-taught and conceited fellows invariably 

 call to my recollection Sir W. Scott's Avell-drawn character of Waylaud 

 Smith, to whom he has very aptly apphed the following words of 

 Perseus : — 



" Diluis hcUeborum, certo compescere puncto, 

 Nescius examea ?" 



which has thus been translated : — 



'• Wilt thou mix hellebore, who doth not know 

 How many grains will to the mixture go ?" 



When a dog recovers from any dangerous disease or accident, it is gene- 

 rally attributed to the efficacy of the remedy, and to the great skill with 

 which the medicine or application has been used ; but nine times in ten 

 the poor animal, if he could reflect within himself and speak the real and 

 stubborn truth, would tell us that it Avas his tough and invincible consti- 

 tution, with which nature has gifted him, which has borne him through 

 not only the trying eftects of the disease, but also the still more dan- 

 gerous consequences of cruelly misapplied nostrums and operations. 

 Nine country veterinary surgeons out of ten, even in the most simple 

 cases, when called in, profess the utmost ignorance of the diseases con- 

 nected with the kennel ; and as the knowledge of anatomy which gene- 

 rally falls to the share of even the most enlightened sportsman is very 

 Hmited, the cure, or rather the attempt at cure, is generally carried on 

 in the dark, and at the utmost hazard of life or recovery. In the ma- 

 nao-ement of not only my own hounds, but also of numei'ous pointers and 

 other sporting dogs, for the space of about nineteen years, the chief as- 

 sistance upon which I could rely has been the recipes and advice of those 

 huntsmen whom I considered the most inteUigent and experienced ; 

 Avhere recipes have succeeded, I have continued to use them, but have 

 invariably rejected those which might fail in their operations. As to 

 the veterinary surgeons I never could prevail upon one in any instance 

 to attempt to assist me, either with regard to the use of difl'erent kinds 

 of medicines, or in the performance of any common operation which 

 might be necessary ; but a medical gentleman* in very high practice in 



* I. Kimble, Esq-, Knowle. 



