S70

FARRIERY.

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cations became frequent during the reign of the first Tudors •, forwo learn from Blumieville, who wrote in the time of Elizabeth,that French and German farriers and riding-masters were not onlyemployed In the queen, but in general by the nobility and gentryof the country. "Vet our improvements in this country, in conse-quence of foreign aid, with regard to the medical and surgicalbranches at least, were by no means great, extending our viewfrom the period of which we now speak, to the early part of theeighteenth century. No medical name appears dining that longinterval upon our veterinary list, nor any one. of the smallestscientific pretension, we mean as far as respects the medical, ana-tomical, or surgical branches, that of Snape excepted, who wasfarrier to Charles II. and whose family, it appears by his hook,had served the crown in that capacity upwards of two hundredyours. Snape’s anatomv of the horse proves him to have been awell-informed farrier. Ill; anatomical system, arrangements, andnomenclature, were in course drawn from the Italian school; buthe directed, and his descriptions were confirmed by his own ob-servation. tlis numerous plates are hold, accurate, and hand-somely executed. Whether or not he published the book of cureswhich he promised, we are uninformed, but he was doubtless farhotter qualified for that task than those of his profession uponwhom that branch of veterinary art unfortunately devolved.St evens, Martin, Clifford, and Morgan, were very early writersamong the leeches and farriers. The hook of Masclial, farrier toJames I. is most laughably illiterate, and we cannot help won-dering with a late author, how such a book could possibly passthrough numerous editions in a learned age, and which even pos-sessed learned and rational books on die same subject. The abovelist may he concluded with Do Grey and the celebrated GervaseMarkham, a contemporary of Bhmdeville, who continued to pub-lish perhaps until after the Restoration, and whose works werestuffed with every absurd, barbarous, and abominable jugglingtrick, as well as with every useful invention which had issuedfrom llie brains of either ancients or moderns. As a specimen ofthe medical part of the horse-leech craft of Markham, he pre-scribes human ordure in certain cases for the horse, both exter-nally and internally. Yet this man’s works had a most rapid anduniversal sale, and continued in repute until the days of Gibson,and even long afterwards among the country leeches and farriers.It must be allowed that Markham’s book contained the fullest de-tail of the practice of the farrier, with a delineation of his instru-ments, not materially different from those in present use. Bliin-deville wrote sensibly and respectably on the general subject of theIiorsc, according to the continental, the then fashionable practice.IEre , in the succeeding reign, that of James I. wrote a learned trea-tise, entitled an IT'pponomie, or the Vineyard of Horsemanship, inwhich lie ably, and from obvious great ex perk nee, discusses allthe relative branches, including the principle and practice of therace-course, and of that system of equitation peculiar to, and sogenerally prevalent in, this’eountry. Hie huge folio of the dukeof Newcastle gives us the regular manege of the horse Ire in thecontinental schools, with an account of the different races of theanimal, in which Ids grace was a connoisseur of high celebrity.In the early part of the eighteenth century William Gibson turnedhis attention to horse medicine and surgery. lie had acted inqueen Anne’s wars as army-surgeon, ar.d appears by his writings tohave been a man of much practical knowledge and sound judge-ment. lie was the first regular professional man who attemptedto improve veterinary science, which he effected in a plain andpopular way, grounded on the analogy between human and brutephysiology, in course between human and animal medicine.The appearance of Gibson’s book oil farriery forms an era in•veterinary annals; and his system in fundamentals has everhern, anil is at this moment, the basis of our superior veterinarypractice. IK-lived to publish a new edition of his chief work,about the middle of the eighteenth century. Dr. Bracken, a phy-sician of Lancaster, a vulgar, desultory, captious, and petulantwriter, vet a profound and enlightened reasoner, and of greatability in his profession, in a tew years followed the laudable ex-ample of Gibson, a:id turned his attention to veterinary medicine,lie was an exquisite practical judge of the animal of which hetreated ; and his work on farriery is a standard with respect to thejoekev or peculiar English system, a branch which h-.d been leftuntouched bv Gibson. Bartlet, a surgeon in Bow-street, C.’ovent-g.rdeti, was a im^t respectable, intelligent, and useful compiler

from Gibson and Bracken, whose labours he circumscribed andimproved. "William Osmer, a surgeon, turned his attention toveterinary and surgery, and published an excellent and practical,although whimsically written, book on horse-shoeing, llis hookhas not probably been hitherto excelled in point of utility ; and beingwritten in a plain and popular way, is adapted to the capacity ofthe slioeing-smillis. The earl of Pembroke also wrote a short andexcellent tieatise on the same subject, practical horse-shoeing andcase of the feet, and on the education of the military horse. Beren-ger about the same time, published a respectable work on the grandmanege. Mr. Clarke, the king’s farrier for Scotland , has publishedtwo valuable treatises on shoeing, and on prevention of the diseasesof horses. The eighteenth century was abundantly fruitful m ve-terinary pursuits and publications. Trance took the lead ; buta zeal for this science also pervaded Germany and the northernstales, and colleges were established in various countries, where-in the science has been since regularly cultivated. Baron Hallercollated the various continental writers on black cattle and sheep;another catalogue of them may also he found in the Giournal diLiterati of Italy . Since these collections, the numher of veteri-nary writers has been immense on the continent. Few or none ofthem have been translated into our language, excepting detachedparts oi" the works of the eminent French writers, La Fosse andBourgelat. The French have improved the anatomical and sur-gical branches of the veterinary art, rather than the medical; theEnglish have made the greatest improvements in the latter: it isnot improbably a parallel case with respect to human medicine.In 1792 the veterinary college was instituted at St. I’ancras, nearLondon . Towards the support ot this institution, a sum is allow,ed annually by Parliament ; it also derives some aid from the feesof students, and from subscription. The donation of twenty gui-neas makes a subscriber for life, and the payment of two guineasyearly gives the same title for that term. In either case the privi-lege of sending two horses to the veterinary hospital, free of allcharges, except for keep, is thus acquired, llis majesty has givenconsiderable importance to the institution, by requiring that all ve-terinary surgeons, employed in the army, should l-.ave passed ex-amination at the college, and he has eminently served the wholeof the cavalry corps by conferring on tiiose surgeons the rank ofcommissioned officers. And a great number of veterinary sur-geon?, receiving their diploma from thence, have been dispersedin the army and throughout the country, to pur great national ad-vantage, in the surgical and medical treatment of horses. A num-ber of farriers also annually tahe the advantage of improving them-selves at this seminary; but it is to be lamented that the light ofveterinary science lias hitherto shined hut dimly and imperfectlyon the other domestic animals. Mr. Coleman, the present pro-fessor, is well qualified for the important office lie holds, and hisexertions have been of very great advantage to tin; public, and ofno less credit to himself. A great number of veterinary publica-tions have issued from the press within this last period; and thetwo professors St. Be! and Coleman, with Messrs. White, Board-man, Blane, and many others, have laudably and usefully distin-guished themselves in this way. Mr. Blanc appears to have takengreat pains in a new branch of veterinary science, as it relates tothat useful domestic the dog. lie has also published the anatomyof the horse. But the anatomical drawings and engravings of thehones, muscles, and many of the blood-vessels of the horse, of ourjustly celebrated horse-painter Stubbs, are held superior to anything we possess of this kind. 'Hie objects of farriery we haveshewn, arc the anatomy, physiology, pathology, medical and sur-gical care, and shoeing, of the horse. Snape says, that “ in someregards anatomy is more necessary to farriers than to physicians, inorder to find out disorders; for besides the pulse and the urine,and the pathognomonic signs of each distemper, they (the latter - )arc assisted in their enquiries, moreover not to say chiefly, by thecomplaints and relations of the patients themselves; whereas a far-rier, having to tlo u itli a dumb creature, must he very curious inhis knowledge of the parts, with their offices, and of the sympathyor consent that one pait hath wilh another; or else, seeing all lusinformation must be of his own hammering out, he is like to makehut a short discovery of the distemper.”

():■■ the Anatomy of the Horse.

The anatomy of the horse, in many respects, hears so close ananalogy to that of the human subject, that the general description

of