VET E III N A 11 Y SCI EN C E . 
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tics ; their ordinary signs of health and of disease ; their capa- 
bilities, and so forth : all which is best known to the persons 
engaged in immediate attendance upon them. A pupil may ac- 
quire high pretensions as a medical student — may be well read in 
anatomy, physiology, and pathology, and yet may turn out a 
very insufficient practitioner. Would the young man of educa- 
tion condescend to make his debut as a veterinary pupil in the 
stable, and step from thence into the farrier’s shop, before he 
attended any medical lectures at all, great indeed would be his 
subsequent proficiency as a veterinary practitioner. Depend 
upon it, this — and this alone — is the right end to commence at : 
it is ridiculous to begin to tell a man that the blood is composed 
of crassamentum and serum, and so forth, who is such a novice 
in a stable or farm-yard, as to know nothing about the appear- 
ance and management and common attributes of the animals 
inhabiting it. This is the reason why medical men are in general 
so unfitted for veterinary practice : they knew enough of anatomy 
and physiology, and pathology, generally, to direct their course, 
but they know nothing about the new patients they are called to 
exercise their art upon ; and the consequence is, that they either 
do too much or too little, or, more commonly, are found doing that 
which amounts to nothing at all. 
The same reasoning, in a measure, applies even in the surgeon’s 
own practice. Unless he inform himself of the habits of life, the 
temperament, and the constitution of his patient, he cannot be 
said to be practising his profession with those aids which nature 
offers him, and art requires of him. It is a great mistake to 
imagine that every requisite to the practice of medicine is to be 
learnt at medical schools. That man, in any sphere of practice, 
will always turn out the most capable — ergo, generally the most 
successful — whose attainments are of that general character that 
makes his patients thoroughly known to him, under whatever 
circum stances they may present themselves for treatment. What 
an excellent physician Shakspeare would have made ! How con- 
temptibly he looked upon that art which could not 
“ Minister to a mind diseas’d.” 
How worthless he deemed it, learn from his own words : — 
“ Throw physic to the dogs — I’ll none of it !” 
An useful lesson might our doctors of the present day derive 
from this play of our noble bard’s : might they, in the refinement 
of their art, essay to 
** Raze out the written troubles of the brain ; 
And, with some sweet oblivious antidote. 
Cleanse the stuff’d bosom of that perilous stuff 
Which weighs upon the heart ?” 
P. 
