ORIGIN or VETERINARY SCIENCE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 641 
was joined to an almost total ignorance of the construction 
of limbs! The same general observations which the Earl of 
Pembroke has made in regard to horsemanship, may also be 
applied to the art of farriery. c Practice alone/ as that noble 
author observes, c can never insure perfection.’ But to use 
the Earl of Pembroke’s expressions, the knowledge of it is 
vulgarly thought so familiar and so common, that you can 
hardly meet with a man who does not flatter himself he has 
succeeded; whereas, every science is founded upon prin¬ 
ciples, and theoiy must indispensably be necessary. A 
blind and boundless presumption is the char act eristic of igno¬ 
rance, —the fruits of long study and application amount to a 
discovery of innumerable fresh difficulties, at the sight of 
which a diligent man, very far from overrating his own merit, 
redoubles his efforts in pursuit of further knowledge.” Mr. 
Freeman further observes—“The late Earl of Pembroke 
says, c whoever lets his groom or coachman ever even men¬ 
tion anything more than water-gruel or clyster, or a little 
bleeding, and that, too, very seldom, or pretend to talk of the 
nature of the feet , of the seat of lameness, sicknesses , or their cures, 
may be certain to find himself very shortly, and very de¬ 
servedly, quite on foot” Yet how often do we find such men 
intrusted, not only with the care, but with the medichl 
treatment of large and valuable studs of horses; and so con¬ 
fident of their own skill in the treatment of disease as never 
once to think of calling in a veterinary surgeon, until the 
animal is in such a state as to be nearly, or entirely, past 
recovery. 
Professor Coleman, in the first number of Veterinary 
Transactions, in the year 1801, remarks, “This numerous 
and formidable class of opponents are, too often, the sole and 
supreme directors in their masters’ stables. The horses are 
usually shod, bled, and physicked, when and where, and in any 
manner, the groom recommends; and even those gentlemen 
who pay considerable attention to the treatment of horses, 
are frequently overcome by the constant opposition of their 
grooms or coachmen.” There can be no objection to such 
men becoming veterinary surgeons, because it has often hap¬ 
pened, that, in consequence of their having received a regular 
course of instruction, and obtained a knowledge of the principles 
of this science , they have afterwards gone into practice, and 
become skilful practitioners. Our object, indeed the duty 
which we owe to the public, the science, and ourselves, is, to 
expose all vain pretensions, error, and quackery; and, by so 
doing, ultimately increase the respectability of the profession, 
and advance the science also. 
