629 
TO “ THE VETERINARIAN/ 5 &c. 
Unfortunate enough to thorn, and also to cause him to throw out 
a curb, in a run over the Gloucestershire Vale. It is deep enough 
to immerse the leg above the hock, and when soaked in its con- 
tents — warm water — for three or four hours, the effect produced 
in abating inflammation and assuaging pain is very great indeed. 
And this leads me to a remark on the subject of accidents to hunt- 
ers and their ailments, which I hope I shall not be thought im- 
pertinent in offering to the consideration of the profession. It is 
this : — I wish some of those who are in practice in the most severe 
of our hunting counties would now and then give us the result of 
their treatment of bad cases, from accidents and distress, which 
come under their consideration in that field, so prolific of both acci- 
dents and disease. We have Mr. Percivall’s “ Complete System of 
Veterinary Anatomy,” and a most admirable work it is. We have 
the general results of the practice and science of a Youatt, a Good- 
win, a Turner, a Clark, a Spooner, a Lawrence, a Mayer, and a 
Coleman, invaluable, and esteemed such by sportsmen; and nothing 
is wanting to the development of their art to the non-professional 
reader and the British sportsman, but a little more plainly demon- 
strated direction for the treatment of hunters when labouring under 
accident or disease. A veterinary surgeon is not always at hand, 
at least he may not have it in his power to give immediate attend- 
ance ; and it too often happens, that it is the “ stitch in time” that 
does the business here. Waiting until the next morning may be 
fatal both to life and limb. 
After an absence of four years, the hunting world presents some 
new features and changes, as is the case in all other secular 
affairs. One of the most striking on my last visit to the crack 
counties, was in the character of the hunter, in which it appeared 
to me that a devotion to pure blood is occasionally carried too far. 
At all events, I saw several light men on what are called thorough - 
bred weeds, which, notwithstanding their elegant form and bang 
tails, could not, I am positive, go in front over a strongly fenced 
country. By this I mean — and I have alluded to it in my Mid- 
land Tour — that they would be knocked backwards by the fences, 
unless they came to them after their strength had been much di- 
minished by horses that had gone over before them. No man 
respects high breeding in a hunter more than I do, provided it be 
accompanied by substance ; but the blood of Eclipse without it 
would be useless over some counties — Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, 
and Northamptonshire especially. Neither do I consider pure blood 
absolutely essential in hunters for any country, and any pace, with 
men on their backs who know how to ride them. For example, 
who sees more of hounds in their work, the season throughout, 
than Sir James Musgrave does 1 I do not think he has one 
VOL. XII. 4 N 
