2 INTRODUCTION : TEACHERS OF THE ART. [BOOK I. 



came several treatises on horse-medicine, as Gib- 

 son, Bracken, Osmer, Bartlet, James Clark, all well 

 written, according to tlie knowledge of the times in 

 which they lived, besides many more that deserve 

 notice only to be execrated*. Thirdly, we had 

 the annual Lecture-reading and Experiments of the 

 Professors at Pancras, long time much decried, 

 now discontinued, and never brought within gene- 

 ral comprehension, though the pupils from that 

 seminary have published a cloud of Essays, to prove 

 their classical learning. Fourthly, came the popular 



* Nor will we contribute our help towards giving them a long lived 

 infamy, further than to quote the opinions of others respecting two of 

 the most noted, viz. Taplin, (a human-body surgeon, as we heard) 

 and Clater, a most ignorant druggist in a borough-town of Nottingham- 

 shire. Of the first mentioned, Richard Lawrence says, in bis quarto 

 work of 1812, page 195. " Some medicines that are contained in 

 Taplin's Treatise, are prescribed with so little judgment, that it is an 

 even chance every horse that is compelled to take them dies under 

 the operation." Of the other, we read in Jon Bee's Dhctionanj, 1824, 

 under the word " Farrier," (page 75.) " Tbe worsMvritten treatise 

 on this subject now extant is that by one Clater ; which for excessive 

 ignorance of diseases, and utter stultification as to mixing of medicines, 

 never was surpassed : let it be burnt by Jack Ketch." A severe 

 sentence, truly, but scarcely retributive enough for the ends of even- 

 handed justice. John Lawrence might have made up a trio, if he really 

 had attempted to be useful in his publications ; but John chooses to 

 write " philosophical treatises on horses," which puzzle the very 

 few readers he may induce to purchase, and bewilders himself. 

 White, in his article on " Physic" (Compendium, p. 370.) has proved 

 that John Lawrence knows nought practically on this topic; his pre- 

 scription of 12 to 14 drachms of Aloes for a race-horse being abso- 

 lutely a murderous dose ; and his camphor with gin and the balsams, to 

 stop the excessive purgation that ensues, confirms our opinion of his 

 incompetency. 



