TO THE EDITORS. 
G77 
Hall shew the animal’s tail was a little raised, or that the Mr. 
Smith who owned the stables was not at Chelsea on the particular 
day, then I fear the valuable autographs of the Professors would 
have been dashed off to no purpose. 
“ And having carefully investigated her teeth, and made such 
general observations as deemed by us advisable, we are decided 
and unanimous in opinion that the said mare is three years off — ” 
I must not proceed too fast. There is a power and grandeur 
exhibited in this portion of the sentence that commands more than 
a passing comment. Simple Mr. Field examined the mouth, as he 
was requested to do. The Professors will be directed, and when 
directed they will do only just as they please. They carefully 
investigate her teeth. The signs of age lie upon the surface, and at 
those only the common practitioner looks. Learned teachers dis- 
card the superficial ; they search into or investigate before they 
speak. To be sure, they were not requested so to do ; but that 
does not signify : they investigated the animal’s teeth upon their 
own authority ; their signatures assure us of the fact. 1 do not mean 
to dispute their words thus formally pledged ; only I confess my 
ignorance is so great, that I cannot conceive how they accomplish- 
ed the labour. To roughly investigate a single tooth after it has 
been removed from the jaw, experience teaches me is not a very 
easy or a very brief task; but to carefully investigate thirty-six 
teeth retained in the head of a living animal, is certainly an ac- 
complishment to which ordinary practitioners would be unequal, 
and, unless the fact were formally stated, the possibility of effecting 
such a work might be reasonably questioned. Nevertheless, it was 
done, or the certificate is of no value, for a single mis-statement 
would destroy its worth ; and, the extraordinary process being ended, 
they proceed to make “ such general observations as deemed by 
us [the Professors] advisable.” What the nature of the observa- 
tions was is not stated ; why they were made, it is not set down. 
The request of the Jockey Club said nothing about general obser- 
vations; it merely alluded to the mouth, and the mouth is the place 
which the Professors are determined not to mention. Not a word is 
said about it. A particular circumstance is all the Stewards want 
to be noticed ; but the gentlemen requested to give their opinions 
will not be confined to particulars. Generalities are more to the 
taste of Messrs. Spooner and Simonds, and accordingly they set 
about observing, though I trust they are not usually unobservant. 
The observations, however, though general when made, seem to 
have been of a very special description, for it is recorded that these 
observations deemed, or thought, or concluded. I never heard of 
observations doing such a thing before ; and, perhaps, the Pro- 
fessors meant that, they made such general observations as were 
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