PREFACE. XI 



cases ; though the school in which I was first ini- 

 tiated, as well as the modern writers, White, and 

 the Lawrences, quite overwhelm their readers with 

 the quantity and apparent contrariety of their pre- 

 scriptions, which frequently possess no essential 

 variation from others that may be applicable to a 

 whole series of disorders. 



Under such circumstances I have been extremely 

 chary of puzzling the reader by merely altering the 

 vehicle when the active material of the prescription 

 had been already compounded for a similar disorder : 

 therefore I have avoided repetition of such (mostly 

 purgatives) by referring the reader to the page where 

 these may be found. Notwithstanding the apparent 

 difficulty of this mode, yet has it certain advantages 

 that outweigh the trouble, and compensate for the 

 moments thus expended. During my noviciate, 

 and long intercourse with persons employed about 

 the horse, in almost every capacity, I noticed that 

 all those who consulted the books respecting any 

 actual disorder, did little more than turn to the 

 prescription which was recommended in their par- 

 ticular case, and it was made up and given to the 

 animal without once more reading .over and com- 

 paring " the symptoms," and notwithstanding they 

 already had the same medicine upon the shelf. By 

 this blind manner of proceeding, they did but adhere 

 more closely to the old system of their " books of 

 receipts," to the entire neglect of the anomalous 

 symptoms, and risked the mistaking of one disease 

 for another, in many cases. To compel the inquirer 



