FROM THE LATE MR. CASTLEY. 
83 
ledge, may give and take; may exchange his stock in trade, 
and with infinite advantage both to himself and to others. There 
are indeed some, nay, I am ashamed to say not a few, of our 
fraternity, who seem to shut themselves up in a kind of hedge¬ 
hog self-suflBciency; who are careful to observe a profound mys¬ 
tery in every thing they do, and who affect to despise all know¬ 
ledge but their own. Now, whenever I see a stable door always 
locked and barred, so as to exclude the inquiring eye, I begin 
to suspect there is some screw loose within ; so mystery, in a 
professional man, I take in general to be a symptom of igno¬ 
rance. Whenever, therefore, we see such a person, we may 
fairly conclude that his secrets are not w'orth knowing, and that 
both he and they are unworthy of our notice. 
There are others of our professional brethren, who think that 
veterinary science is of too simple a nature to be exposed to the 
public gaze; that, in fact, by laying it open we give the staff 
out of our own hands. They say, that when we describe one 
case of any particular disease, as, for instance, inflammation of 
the lungs, we describe every one ; and that, therefore, it is an 
easy matter for any person, however ignorant, to practise by our 
recipes, and with our directions. I say, no such thing. I would 
observe to such superficial persons, that there are more diseases 
of the chest besides inflammation of the lungs ; and that it re¬ 
quires not only experience, but also science and tact, to discri¬ 
minate with any degree of accuracy what particular tissue it is 
that is attacked, without which, a man must often get wTong in 
the application of remedies ; for, to those that tell us that the 
treatment is the same in all, I w^ould say, they have not made 
much progress, nor are they likely to make much progress, in 
the profession ; but many a man has mistaken his profession! 
In fact, I may say, w^e seldom see tw’O cases of any one disease 
exactly alike in every respect; many circumstances wall be dif¬ 
ferent, which, to be judiciously managed, may require some 
variation or modification in the treatment. Tw’o things are very 
necessary in the practice of physic, even upon the lower animals, 
viz. a perfect knowledge of the disease, and the right employ¬ 
ment of remedies. In the absence of such precise knowledge, 
medicine may, indeed, at best, be called but a conjectural art. 
The superficial acquaintance, therefore, with facts, relative dis¬ 
eases, and their remedies, as drawm from books, and books only, 
and applied by ignorant and unpractised persons, is a dangerous 
thing. Not so in the hands of the regular practitioner; he 
knows how to avail himself of every new fact, and to employ it 
in its proper place. It is for this reason that I think a periodi¬ 
cal pubhcation is calculated.most particularly to benefit the pro- 
