REVIEW— HUMANITY TO BRUTES. 
270 
yard was full, and he was not immediately destroyed. A day or 
two afterwards a person accidentally saw the horse. He was 
struck with his appearance, and, there being no law against this in 
Scotland, he bought him for a guinea. The horse got better — so 
much so, that he was put into training. He won several steeple 
chases, and was eventually sold for 200 guineas.” — P. 148. 
This, I trust, will serve as a warning to all practitioners against a 
hasty condemnation of any of their patients. I have heard of 
several cases where horses have done well afterwards. 
There are also many narrations which cannot fail to excite our 
sympathy, and, I should trust, to arouse our energies, and make 
each of us determine to perform his share in putting down such 
practices as are there shewn to exist. 
Those individuals who have lately taken an interest in the 
steeple chase at Liverpool, where two horses have been sacrificed, 
will do well to read the following quotation : — 
“ Steeple Chases. 
“ These exhibitions cannot be too severely reprobated. They 
have no kin to straightforward, honest sporting — they are chiefly 
advantageous to horse-dealers — they seem established for their 
peculiar purposes ; and a door has been opened for the vilest and 
the most extensive fraud. With reference to the humanity of the 
thing, it may be asserted, that it never could have been intended 
by the Author of Nature that the powers of the horse should be so 
severely and in such a way taxed. The end ought to justify the 
means; but there is no legitimate or rational end to be answered 
by these noble animals being urged at their utmost speed over all 
sorts of ground, and with every dangerous obstacle in their way. 
This is a power which was never delegated to man. As yet, and 
we hope for ever, the steeple chase remains, with few exceptions, 
unpatronized by sportsmen of elevated station or character. 
“ From the earliest records of the turf, in our own and in every 
other country, the Hippodrome , or course for horses, was reserved 
as a trial of their speed or stoutness. Such exhibitions are not 
only justifiable but commendable, for, without involving any great 
or unnecessary cruelty, they are connected with the interests of 
the country : but no interest can be served here, except that of the 
dealer or the adventurer. Several excellent horses have already 
been sacrificed to this brutal diversion, and doubtless many others 
will be murdered in the same way, until so horrible a practice is 
put down by the expression of universal detestation.” — P. 112. 
On some points, however, we do not agree with the author, nor 
do we think that the facts so clearly stated in the former part of 
