THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



95 



charitable as it grows more enlightened, and so more 

 dispassionate in its treatment of the ignorant or vic- 

 ious ; -but such a man would be prosecuted for mal- 

 practice and turned out of the profession. Yet, to- 

 day, I am forced to believe that this gentleman fairly 

 represents the profession. Had this horse, fat as he 

 was, been put, as soon as purchased, to steady work, 

 and on a plain, natural diet, restricted to two meals 

 and to an amount, altogether, that would have sus- 

 tained him while the soft fat was being absorbed and 

 cast off, and the muscles being made clean and full ; 

 had he been worked every day from the beginning, 

 not beyond, but up to his strength, the latter would 

 have increased every day and he would have been 

 • made over new, just as in the case described on page 

 24, without the least danger of founder. 



Of course it is not to be imagined that a purge, a 

 blister, the loss of a few quarts of blood, and the ad- 

 ministration of a 15-drop dose of aconite — however 

 depleting, however cruel — would end the life of a 

 young horse that was " fit to survive ! " Far from it. 

 And so, three days afterward, this horse had appar- 

 ently made good his loss. But it was a loss, all the 

 same ; a loss without the shadow of a gain, unless we 

 put a value on the amusement afforded to the igno- 

 jant stable boys, and their wonder at the marvelous 

 skill displayed by the veterinary surgeon, especially 

 in making the patient full-breasted with an air- 

 blister ! 



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