266 
Facts and Observations. 
AN IRISH REMINISCENCE. 
By “ Acteon.” 
When at Spansilhill fair, in the County Clare, June, 1855, 
I was requested to examine a horse that was purchased by a 
friend of mine, to drive. Nothing could be detected wrong 
with the animal, except a very haggard appearance of the 
eyes, and a dry feeling of the buccal membrane, I may say 
peculiar, inasmuch, as I never before met with such a harsh 
grating feel of the tongue and lips. The animal’s wind ap- 
peared perfectly healthy, try him how I would. 1 could not, 
however, elicit a cough. Not being satisfied with the animal, 
and without, I may say, any very tangible cause of sus- 
picion, except of exhaustion, he was given a bucket of water, 
which he drank off the ground, when a thick aqueous dis- 
charge issued from both nostrils, his sides began to heave, 
and a canter of a hundred yards disclosed a bad case of 
broken wind. Having heard of these cases, but never meet- 
ing with one before, I was anxious to become acquainted with 
the method of £C setting,” as it is called ; and with some diffi- 
culty I found out the nefarious owner, who proved to be the 
head of a clan of “ tinkers,” that infest the whole of the 
fairs in the south of Ireland. Getting into conversation upon 
matters foreign to the present letter, I at last introduced 
the subject of the horse, and he candidly confessed the 
animal had been “ dosed,” and boasted that he could cure 
for a time any broken-winded horse, but he would not dis- 
close the secret. I met the “ tinker ” at a great many fairs 
afterwards, and ultimately obtained the following u infallible 
cure ” as he termed it. u Begin by taking five quarts of 
blood away, and give a dose of physic, then give half a pound 
of butter each day for ten mornings ; then give one pound 
of molasses, and the morning he is to be shown for exami- 
nation, give half a pint of linseed oil. The horse is to be 
fed the whole time on grass.” The above receipt is exactly 
as I received it, but not having had an opportunity of test- 
ing its merits, I cannot vouch for its efficacy. 
