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scientific recreation their writings have afforded me. For my 
part, I have been always a lover of the veterinary art; and am 
glad in making this honest acknowledgment, that to veterinary 
science 1 owe many a valuable hint, which has aided me in the 
practice of my own profession. Let me not unnecessarily oc- 
cupy your space, nor would I be tedious to your readers. 
I shall not be so, at least, whilst I dwell upon and thank you 
for the word “ condition.” We have no such comprehensive 
word in all our medical vocabulary. How much is expressed 
in that word “condition!” Health, indeed, may be some ap- 
proach to it ; but it is only an approach. Mr. Alderman 
Greenfat may be in a high state of health as he rides from 
Bloomsbury to the city ; but this is not “ condition :” no more 
so than is a fat Lincoln horse when compared with the crack 
in Mr. Scott’s stable. “ Condition,” though it includes and 
insists on perfect health, has a further meaning. It teaches that 
living mechanism is alone perfect in the natural exercise of its 
parts, and all its parts in a balance and harmony one with 
another, — circulation and respiration — appetite with digestion — 
a fine and proper state of tension of every animal fibre — 
sinews, ligaments, and joints, each with the other; whilst the 
bloom upon his skin bespeaks that every pore is clean and 
open. 
What an extended view of health is this to that which is 
promised by Parr’s life pills for the stomach, or Holloway’s 
grease for the legs ! And this is the instruction “ condition” 
affords. It teaches the medical practitioner to take a more ex- 
panded view of his patient’s health; not to be satisfied with his 
pulse or his liver, or the state of his tongue; but to look at him 
more as a whole ; in a word, gentlemen, to study his “ con- 
dition.” 
Chapter the Second. 
A theory is no friend of mine without a practical application. 
In general medicine how frequently do we hear, “ Ah, he’s a 
liver man!” Another makes the kidney his choice; then there 
is the bowel man; or his stethescope is his pride : if we study 
the sister art, their watchword is “ condition.” 
In general medicine, it is considered well if our patient be 
restored to such degree of health as shall enable him to pursue 
his ordinary business. Our friend, the Bloomsbury alderman, 
can pursue his ordinary business : he can ride into the city on 
his cob, and, having sat upon his high stool for six or eight 
hours, whilst the favourite stands in a hot stable, the alderman 
and the cob slide homewards on the greasy stones, and are both 
