TO THE

NOBLEMEN AND GENTLEMEN

OF THE

QUORN HUNT.

GENTLEMEN,

THE distinguished style in which the MEMBERS of the QUORN HUNT have long pursued the pleasures of the Chase, is so well known to the sporting world in general, as to require neither comment nor eulogium on the present occasion.

It was the manifestation of this superior excellence which convinced me, that, in seeking for Patrons to whom I should take the liberty of dedicating the following Treatise, I could not pay a higher compliment to my own judgment, nor excite a greater interes in the public mind in behalf of my Work, than to offer it to your consideration and protection.

At the same time I cannot but be aware that I am presenting myself before a tribunal of no ordinary character; but the candour

iv

and urbanity of BRITISH GENTLEMEN will ever afford the best secu rity against malevolent criticism or unqualified censure.

Treatises on the Veterinary Art have multiplied so greatly of late years, that the subject can admit but of little or no novelty. A Work, however, comprising in one view all that is most important on the Treatment of Horses appeared to me to be wanting. I have, therefore, in the prosecution of my object, attempted to adopt a general system, with the view of rendering it more familiar and less irksome to unprofessional readers. And, in order to relieve the dry detail of a scientific essay, I have occasionally introduced miscellaneous remarks and anecdotes relating to sporting affairs, deeming such a variety as the most likely means of making it more interesting, as well as a pleasant hour's relaxation, on the evening of a hard day.

With every sentiment of respect,

I have the honour to be

Your most obedient servant,

RICHARD LAWRENCE

London,
Jan. 1, 1816,

TO THE READER.

IN presenting a new work to the public it tion of good sense, and a close attention to

has generally been considered necessary to offer a few prefatory observations for the purpose of explaining the nature of its contents, as well as to solicit the indulgence of the reader in regard to its defects. In compliance, therefore, with such an established custom, the author of the present treatise ventures to claim the same privileges that have been granted to those who have preceded him, and the best pledge he can hold out for the validity of his pretensions will be the assurance that he has spared no pains in his endeavours to render it worthy of their attention and patronage.

the laws of nature.

It happens, however, unfortunately that there ever has existed in the public mind a greater or less propensity to become the dupes of imposition and quackery, and there never will be wanting individuals who are ready to seize every opportunity of enriching themselves by the credulity of the rest of mankind. To such an extent indeed has this evil been carried that no man need desire a better income than the value of those horses and cattle that are annually destroyed through the bad effects of publications, which, if they were written by regular veterinary In the prosecution of his object he has surgeons, would be not only a disgrace to avoided, as much as possible, the use of tech-themselves but to the profession at large. nical terms, from the conviction that no essay The enormous increase in the number of on the subject in question can be really use-horses employed in the service of the public, ful except it be treated in such a manner as to be perfectly familiar to readers in general. The diseases of the horse (notwithstanding some of them are incurable by any process hitherto discovered) are few and simple, and the affectation of using a high-flown and mysterious style of expression in describing their progress and effects is as ridiculous on the one hand, as the gross ignorance and vulgarity of the common farriers is disgusting on the other. It was the original object of the establishment of a veterinary college in this country to bring the practice of farriery to some settled system, built upon the founda

and especially by innkeepers and coach-proprietors, renders it highly essential to the interests of those persons that the best means of providing against the bad consequences of the extraordinary degree of labour to which they are exposed, should become generally diffused, as well as the best mode of preventing those diseases which too often arise from the neglect, or what is worse, from the obstinacy and self-conceit of their servants. The common treatment of this class of horses is but too generally founded on old and erroneous maxims, except in some few instances where the proprietor has the good

B

sense or rather the courage to judge for him- consequences of ignorance and prejudice self and to rescue his property from the confined to the horse alone, as may clearly hands of the blacksmith, who, amongst other be perceived in regard to the diseases of notable expedients for the improvement of horned cattle and sheep. If it were possible his own treasury, employs his Sunday morn- to descend lower in the scale of human abiings in bleeding the poor animals all round,lity than that which belongs to the countrywhether old or young, healthy or diseased, || blacksmith, it must be in the qualifications of that he may have the opportunity of charging one shilling per head. In consequence of this absurd and injurious practice, and the slovenly and unskilful manner in which it is generally executed, there are almost always to be found in the stables of innkeepers or coach-masters, one or more horses with diseased necks, which in nine cases out of ten ends in the loss of the vein, and it haj-pens not unfrequently with those which work at night in the mail-coaches that the pin which closed the orifice in the skin is forced out by the bearing rein, and the ani- || mal bleeds till he drops down before the accident can be discovered by the driver.

The foregoing constitute but a small part of the evils to which horses of this description are liable, and of which a more ample exposition will be given in the body of the work, but the author conceives that even these would be sufficient to prove the necessity of a reformation in that department. In hunting and racing stables the poor animal is but too often doomed to endure the pernicious effects of systems that are at direct variance with the plain and self-evident dictates of nature. The absurdity of the system adopted in this higher branch of stable affairs, notwithstanding it is clothed with a certain affectation of superior skill and a knowing significance of deportment, is equally detrimental as that of the drunken and brutal blacksmith, and according to present appearances is quite as difficult to be eradicated or even counteracted. Nor are the bareful

the cow-doctor. The monstrous and incon-
ceivable mixture of folly and stupidity which
directs the operations of these men is almost
too ridiculous for belief, and in adverting to
this circumstance the author thinks, without
much presumption, that he is not likely to
incur the imputation of envy or jealousy, or
to be accused of attempting to pull down the
fame of others to establish his own. The
system to which he alludes is such as to defy
all comparison, and so far from being capa-
ble of amelioration, it ought, in justice to
common sense, to be abolished altogether,
'ere any attempts are made to establish a
more rational, mode of treatment.

In regard to the prescriptions which the author has recommended, his principal care has been to simplify them as much as possible, so as to avoid the consequences which must frequently take place when a numerous mixture of drugs is prescribed, namely, the counteraction of the properties of each other.

Nor has he been less attentive to the quantity, so as to prevent those fatal effects which often ensue from too large doses.

In his endeavours to accomplish the foregoing objects, the author has occasionally referred to such writers as have thrown any light on the subject, and he should regret losing the present opportunity of paying a just tribute to the sterling merit of some of his cotemporaries, especially to Mr. Bracy Clarke, whose labours have been constantly and so successfully directed to the promotion and improvement of the veterinary art.