APPENDIX. — WOUNDS. 305 



splinters, or other extraneous matter that may 

 be in the wound; if a flap of skin hang down, 



to the cure they engage to perlbrni !" — So extensive is the mis- 

 chief occasioned by this " jll-pl:iced contidcnce" of which St. Bel 

 speaks, aud so serious tm obstacle has it hitherto proved to 

 the progress of veterinary science, tliat I must beg leave lo make 

 a short quotation from Mr. Richard Lawrence's ingenious publi- 

 cation. 



" The necessity of long study in anatomy, pathology, and 

 the composition of drugs, to qualify a practitioner in medicine, is 

 universally acknowledged ; and as the horic exists by similar 

 laws, and is subject to many of the diseases incident to man- 

 kind, it cannot require much penetration to discover, that studies 

 of the same nature must be absolutely requisite to constitute a 

 good farrier : but if conclusions were to be drawn from the basis 

 on which the veterinary system has hitherto rested, it would 

 seem that the science of farriery has been considered as a natural 

 gift, and not in the least dependent on the tedious process of 

 medical inquiry and investigation ; for every blacksmith, groom, 

 and stable bov, not only conceives himself, but id often believed 

 by Ms employt-r, to be fully competent to the important task of 

 curine diseases, of the nature of Avhich he is totally ignorant. 

 Surely nothing can be more absurd than to iindgine, that a 

 groom, by having fed and cleaned a horse a few year*, must 

 consequently become acquainted with his diseases and their 

 causes. It would be equally pbiusible to assert, that because he 

 knows by ocular experience that the sun rises in the morning 

 and sets at night, he must be an astronomer. 



" The majority of the affluent, to avoid the trouble of reflec- 

 tion, suffer themselves to be influenced, in matters of this nature, 

 by men whose opinions on any other subject they would treat 

 with the utmost contempt, few things can be more affecting t« 

 ii humane and contemplative mind, tlian tlie sufferings uf a mute 



