ON THE USE OF THE LANCET. 
263 
and find in it every thing that is necessary in order to enable me 
to abstract blood from every part of the frame. They who have 
already adopted it I hope will persevere in the use of it; and they 
who have not become converts to its employment, will see, I trust, 
the propriety of supporting any improvement beneficial to the pro- 
fession, or which is the means of conferring on it an appearance of 
scientific treatment to which the ignorant or itinerant pretender can 
never aspire. 
Utterly devoid of real science as the farriers generally are, with 
what mystery do they visit their patients! and their remedies are 
never-failing ones. I am anxious to draw a broader line of dis- 
tinction between the veterinary surgeon and the ignorant pretender; 
for the latter has a great hold on the public mind, particularly 
among the middle class of farmers. These men constitute their 
strong holds — their fastnesses. 
While I freely admit that a considerable proportion of the 
agriculturists are intelligent upon many a subject that concerns 
their welfare, yet there are others strangely ignorant, and those are 
the men with whom the veterinary surgeon has oftenest to contend. 
They are the source whence the evils of quackery spring. They 
are men seemingly walking with their eyes open, and enjoying the 
light of day, but whose minds are closed against every improve- 
ment, or who consider improvement as an innovation upon esta- 
blished rules, and an infringement upon settled and ancient cus- 
toms. Such are the men with whom the veterinary surgeon has 
most to contend, and whom he has most difficulty in pleasing. 
While on the subject of quackery, I will relate two out of many 
instances that came under my personal observation. Some time 
ago I was attending a cow labouring under indigestion. During 
the time that she was unwell the farrier called upon the owner. 
He was asked to look at the patient. The man of physic shook 
his head, and prescribed — what do you think ] — the liver, lungs, 
and head of a sheep boiled with some reesty bacon — minced small 
and given together with the broth. This was administered un- 
known to me. 
I saw a foal a few weeks ago afflicted with palsy, and unable to 
stand. Two of the wiseacres had been attending it conjointly. 
