REVIEW : THE VILLAGE FARRIER. 
525 
Delahere Blaine, the author of 6i The Veterinary Outlines is 
a man of education, science, and extensive practice, lje was 
for many a year the best writer on the veterinary art; and even 
now he may u divide the crown” with the choicest of this more 
enlightened period of veterinary science. He was a horseman as 
well as a surgeon: he knew every point about the horse, as well 
as his mere anatomical structure,—every good and bad quality, 
as well as every disease:—but Ephraim Blaine !—let him speak 
for himself. 
In page 2 he is speaking of fever; “ there is much resemblance 
in the symptoms of fever to those of staggers; the horse is senseless 
and stupid; voids his dung and urine without power to retain them ; 
ranges the stable; bruises himself dreadfully.” Then, “ as soon 
as the disease shews itself, bleed freely, two or three quarts (!) 
at least, must be taken away.” Afterwards, “ give antimonial 
powder, tartar emetic, camphor, nitre, Castile soap, Barbadoes 
aloes, syrup of buckthorn, Epsom salts, coarse sugar, and cas¬ 
tor-oil ;” but, u when it is necessary to use a stronger medicine, 
give James’s powder, assafcetida, camphor, and opium : James’s 
powder is, in fact, the very best sweating medicine we have;” 
and “ when he is getting better, give Peruvian bark, gentian, 
nitre, and spirit of vitriol’’ (!!) Did Mr. Ephraim Blaine, in 
his whole thirty years’ practice, ever see or treat a case of fever ? 
or, if he did, was he ever permitted to treat a second ? 
Physicking is a simple thing enough, and a very good thing in 
some cases of disease, and in sudden and considerable change of 
diet. Let us hear Mr. Ephraim Blaine : “ Those horses that 
are fed very high, and upon dry food, require to be purged .peri¬ 
odically, say two or three times a year. Two or three doses 
at each time will be sufficient, allowing a proper elapse between 
each” (p. 5). That is to say, a w 7 ell-fed horse must be three 
months out of the twelve under physic. Very pleasing intelligence 
this to the owner of the horse, afthough somewhat profitable, we 
own, for the farrier and the druggist. We know 7 a great many horses 
highly fed, and proportionably worked, w 7 ho are rarely u sick or 
sorry,” and scarcely require a dose of physic in half a dozen 
years. But physic is useful occasionally, and “ some horses, 
after long journeys, are liable to lose their appetite, and their 
stomachs are clogged with crude and indigestible matter. This 
must be removed; for, if permitted to remain, it will be produc¬ 
tive of dreadful effects” (p. 5). Surely there are better restora¬ 
tives for an over-worked horse than a dose of physic. 
With all this physicking the horse must sometimes sadly 
suffer; and so it is acknowledged that he does. “ The horse is 
