DEGRADED STATE OE THE VETERINARY PRESS. 245 
and immediately pronounced the horse to be jaw-locked. He 
then had recourse to a bottle of his never-failing oil, and so be- 
laboured the head and jaws of the poor animal, that in the 
course of a very few hours the hair was entirely removed from 
every part that was touched by this liquid caustic. The. horse 
was then forced with some liquid in the form of a drench, but 
no symptoms of amendment appeared. An iron crow-bar was 
next introduced between the tushes and grinders on one side of 
the mouth, and brought out on the other side : two or three 
men were then placed on each side to puli at the jaw with all 
their force : their efforts, however, were altogether in vain. 
By this time the farrier’s stock of skill was expended, and he 
told the proprietor that nothing more in the shape of medicine 
could be done for the horse, unless to try to give him two bottles 
of Dutch drops, which he thought might do him good. The 
nostrum was given, but without the anticipated effect. 
Now comes the kill or cure remedy, and which he strongly 
recommended to the proprietor, as the only thing in which he 
could place any confidence, after all other means had failed ; and 
he said that he had witnessed its beneficial effects times out of 
number. The horse was to be taken into a field, and a gun fired 
over his head ; he would then immediately open his mouth, or 
fall down dead. To this kill or cure remedy, however, the pro- 
prietor would not consent, and the poor animal died, apparently 
in the most extreme agony, two days afterwards. So much for 
the education of a smith’s shop. 
I sincerely trust, as a well wisher to the respectability of the 
veterinary profession, that the time is not far distant when, as 
(Mr. W. Clarke observes in The Veterinarian of April 
1833) “ the illiterate farrier and cowleech, with his empirical 
nostrums, will be driven from the field, never more to assert 
his supremacy.” Should you think that the statement of this 
case will in any measure contribute to the hastening of this 
period, you are at perfect liberty to publish it in your valuable 
periodical. Veterinarius. 
THE DEGRADED STATE OF THE VETERINARY 
PRESS. 
To the Editor, 
I no not know whether you will allow The Veterinarian 
to be the vehicle of the following observations ; but as I infer 
from your motto of “ Quid sit pulchrum, quidturpe , quid utile, 
