THE OLD FARRIER. 75 



interesting, and companionable animal, the dog, has 

 gradually been creeping up into the notice of those 

 professional men who practise in the metropolis. 

 And if we may judge of what we read in the sporting 

 periodicals, the rising generation of veterinary surgeons 

 seem anxious, not only to make the diseases of the 

 horse their study ; but also to extend their exertions 

 and inquiries to those maladies and accidents to which 

 not only the canine race, but also all other domesticated 

 animals are liable. 



Although hunting has been the most fashionable 

 amusement, amongst the gentry of England, for many 

 centuries; strange it is, that the management of the 

 hound, upon which animal all the hopes of success 

 in the chace entirely depend, has been too frequently 

 entrusted 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 generality of them are ignorant 

 and uneducated men, who by an indiscriminate and 

 injudicious application, often ruin the credit of medi- 

 cines and processes, which, in good 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 well 

 drawn character of Wayland Smith, to whom he has 

 very aptly applied the following words of Perseus :— 



" Diluis helleborum, certo compescere puncto, 

 Moscius examen t" 



