49 
iUDifU)^ 
Quid sit pulchruni, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non.—H or. 
A Treatise on the Care, Treatment, and Training of the English 
llace-Horse, in a series of Rough Notes. By Richard 
Darvill, F.6'. late 7th Hussars. Vol. ii. Price £1 Is 
Our readers will remember we presented them (in the 2d and 3d 
vols. of our Jourual) with a tolerably copious analysis of the first 
part of the present work: we have for some time past had the 
second lying upon our table; and this, we find, is to be followed 
by a third. We wonder what old Frampton—we think his 
name was Frampton —“ the Father of the Turf,” would say, 
could he rise out of his grave and behold three such octavo 
volumes as these devoted to the subject of training? 
It is a subject that may be denied to come strictly within the 
province of a veterinary surgeon, and yet he is the very kind of 
person that must, or at least ought to feel, that his mind is 
stored with that sort of knowledge which, when it comes to be 
applied to the science of training, must, like a male and female 
screw, be found exactly one to fit the other. Notoriously and 
disreputably true as the fact is, that few horse-people know less 
about racing than veterinary surgeons in general; still it must 
be admitted, that the sciences are related, and can, consequently, 
be more advantageously cultivated both together in the same 
mind, than either of them can singly. Mr. Darvill commenced 
his career in life in learning ‘‘ to rub legs, 'set the stables fair, 
and clean up the yardhe has left off, after having practised 
twenty long years as a veterinary surgeon in the army. Is he 
any the worse for having performed the duties of a common 
groom ? Quite the contrary. How much the better veterinary 
surgeon has he made for it; and how much the better still would 
he make trainer, were he now to commence that business again, 
after having been initiated in the principles of veterinary medi¬ 
cine, and followed the practice of it for twenty years! It is this 
dove-tailing of the sciences that so strongly reflects and exten¬ 
sively elicits their reciprocal advantages. It is, in fact, com¬ 
parative anatomy; which those alone decry who choose to remain 
in ignorance of it: at least this is the only thing one can offer 
in the shape of a reason for such strange fastidiousness of taste. 
Mr. Darvill distributes the contents of the present volume 
into twenty-six chapters, commencing with the formation of the 
race-horse, and ending with the completion of liis training; 
pointing out every thing as he proceeds, with the regularity and 
precision of one who had already done it all himself, and in 
VOL. VIII. n 
