A treatise on the horse : its diseases, lameness, and improvement : in which is laid down the proper method of shoeing the different kinds of feet ... / by William Osmer.

Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the horse : its diseases, lameness, and improvement : in which is laid down the proper method of shoeing the different kinds of feet ... / by William Osmer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Chap. IV.] NO HIDDEN QUALITIES. that the “ cat-legged” stag excels the bullock in speed, the fox-hound excels the southern hound, and the fine-bred setter excels the Spanish pointer. And the reason why this demonstrable and prove- able superiority in the bred horse, is not recognized by all men alike, is, because the difference in the nature and make of their constituent parts are not sufficiently studied by horsemen, as it ought. This want of understanding on the subject, is the very reason why sportsmen blindly impute this supe- riority in what we call the bred-horse, to some innate or hidden cause. But we may find the true cause, probably, in the very converse of this proposition,—namely, their blind prejudices in fa- vour of occult, innate, or hidden qualities, have obstructed all acquisitions of rational knowledge on this subject, as of many others : let us hope the age of darkness is passing away, for the classes out of which the most garrulous of those “judges” have sprung, are now taught to read in books the know- ledge of ages.
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