Vlll PREFACE. 



seller just named to ask my father's opinion, and 

 mine among others, of a certain manuscript he held 

 in his hand, which upon inspection turned out to 

 be a treatise on the rationale of horse-medicine, 

 with very plain directions for ascertaining the true 

 symptoms of diseases before attempting to apply 

 any remedy, however estimable. As the exposi- 

 tions of the writer agreed mainly with our own 

 ideas, it was impossible to withhold approbation. 

 Finally, Mr. Badcock also consulted with W. S. 

 Rickword, of Moor-lane, and other veterinary sur- 

 geons of the college, and resolved upon the spirited 

 publication of his new purchase ; notwithstanding 

 he had received the uncheering disapproval of 

 Bracy Clark, of Smithfield, who gave for answer 

 that " no one could learn the treatment of horses' 

 diseases from printed books." Yet has Bracy Clark 

 cilice then printed many books. The great success 

 of the publication alluded to, which was James 

 White s " Compendium of the Veterinary Art," jus- 

 tified our opinion of its merits, and gratified my 

 vanity at the early share I took in its promulgation, 

 and the revision of many passages with a view to 

 simplifying the terms (in particular) ; in which com- 

 mendable quality, by the way, Mr. White is not 

 deficient, though, in other respects, a lapse or two 

 which have since fallen out, come under notice in 

 the course of the following pages. No man can be 

 perfect : how few among us know every thing that 

 pertains to themselves*. 



* The edition of White's Compendium I have used is the 12th, 



