■*l Mi3 16 are very unsatisfiictorj, and the time is arrived when tnith must be elicited from you : when practical improvement, whether ofiiciallv or 7/?^- officially, springing- to the light, must supersede mere theory, however plausible and vauntiugly exhibited on the dead subject. — I claiin a privi- h'ge to ask you — First, Whether there is any practical system at all of the veterinary art taught 2t the College of which you are professor^ Secondly, Whether, if there be anij system taught, is there one, or how many, instances of ft pupil of yours ^ifcceeding in practice who has Ti^'p^ieicly ado^itf^ It ? • AB\^:^T^''Vs^lN'/»fA 'I nfy^ well known that those whohave succeeded, have been those only, who were bold and ingenious (enough to abandon that system, and to form and act upon one of their own ? Fourthly, Is it not true that lame, glandered and mangy cattle swarm both in the camp and the country, and that 3'ou yourself are ashamed of having pro- mulgated your visionary theories ? These ques^ tions will be most easy for you to answer, if your mind feels its own ability and its own recti- tude ; for next to being faultless, is the acknow- ledgement of error ; but you must use mdrc con- ^ncing language tkan y^out %m,rtl2y relativ-e-r thai: it will be more gentJemanlij, I cannot doubt. I have the honor to be. Sir, Your humble Servant, J Subscriber to iVc Oifurd-Strett Jvsti(-Hon Ridden, Printer, Steel's Couit„ Lee's Mews, Grosveuor-Sq., Second Edition. LETTER, ADDRESSED TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE FRIMCE REGENT, IN VINDICATION OF THE SYSTEM OF SHOEING THE FOOT OF THE HOUSE, AS PRACTISED BY THE VETERINARY COLLEGE, IN REPLY TO AN ATTACK CONTAINED IN AN ADDRESS TO XliE BRiriSlI i-USLIC, RECOMMENDING A DIFFERENT PLAN OF SHOEING, etc. BY CATPAIN BLAGRAVE. WITH REMARKS 0I« THE LATE SCURRILOLS « EPISTLE TO PROFESSOIi COLEMAN, Esq." BY GEORGE PRICE, Ordnance Veterinary Surgeon to the Modway District, and formerly of the Tswentieth Dragoons. LONDON : PRINTED BY J. MORTON, 272, STRAND. And to be Lad of all Eookse'.ler: 1812. The First Edition of this Letter ii'as not puh' lished for Sale. After the Manuscript had beeiiy hi/ command of ttce Prince Regent^ referred to the Board of Ordnance, 200 Copies uere distributed among such as ivere considered the most likch/ to form an impartial opinion on the subject. As Capf. 3lagrave has thought proper^ through the medium of an anonymous writer, to offer what he called Remarks, and to substitute scurrility instead of argument, in reply to the assertions I have made, I have felt it my duty to let the Public judge beticeen us. The following is a Reply to a (kind of J Pro- spectus of a Plan, said to he for the improved Treatment of the Horse's Foot, addressed to the British Public by Captain Blagrate, late of the Rojal Artillery Drivers, assisted by a ]Mr. Good- win, formerly one of the Veterinary Surgeons in His Majesty's Service, the said Plan professing to he " under the immediate Patronage of the Princ§ Re5>:ent." To His Royal Highness THE FHIMCE MEOENT OF GREAT BRITAIN Jl our Royal Highness's character, in public affairs, has ever been of too decided a nature to require much ceremony in soliciting your atten- tion to any subject, where the interests of your Country are concerned ; and your private charac- ter is sufficiently known, among all ranks, for manly integrity, not to need any apology for the exposition of falsehood, particularly when such falsehood has the temerity to pretend to the sanc- tion of your authority. From the moment I first perused the bold and Unqualified untruths asserted by Captain Bla- grave (in his Address to the Public), relative to the practice of Veterinary Surgeons in the Army, I felt, in common with the rest of the Profession, the immediate necessity of repelling so calum- nious a charge ; and naturally expected that Mr. Coleman (as Head of the Department) would at ( 6 ) least see tlie necessity of making some reply. — Whether that Gentleman considers Captain lj]a- grave as professiojialhj too insignificant to merit any answer from liis pen, 1 know not ; but I confess I am at a loss to conjecture how your Royal High- ness, or the Public, are to detect the fallacy of any statement (made under such plausible cuQwrn- stances, however gross the imposition), so long as It is suffered to remain uncontradicted. As a humble individual of that body whom Captain Blagrave has thought proper to vilify, 1 will no longer trust my professional character to the keeping of any man, but most submissively beseech of your Royal Highness to interfere in the behalf of truth. The dissemination of false doc- trine is generally injurious, in proportion to tlie apparent respectability of the propagator ; and. when tlie rank in life of Captain Blagrave is con- sidered, the extent and nature of his connexions, and, above ail, that high sense of honour, and love of truth, which ought to distinguish the pro- fession to which he belongs, it becomes dorbly the duty of every one interested in the welfare of that noble aiid valuable animal, the Horse, to pre- vent tlie introduction of any plan (strengthened hy sucii imposing authority) which might again lead us into those errors, which it has been tlie continued exertion of the Veterinary Practice t* remove. ! am willing to believe that Captain Blagrave mr(fj be sii'ccre in his hopes of succlss from the ( 7 ) adopiion of his plan ; and if so fJiowevcr Kroiig he may hej, it amounts at most only to an error in judgment; but candour itself must acknowledge that lie can avail himself of this plea wo farther ; and every liberal mind will ask, b}' what autho- rity, upon what grounds, he charges a whole body of men (the Army Veterinary Surgeons) with being apostates to their creed, as professing one j^liing, and practising another. The sanction of Mr. Goodwin, a Veterinary Surgeon, regular It/ edu- cated, may, for a moment, give a colour of plau- ^ability to this bold assertion ; but I believe it would be difficult for Captain Blagrave to pro- duce such ^ijpther instance of professional pro- stitution AS this person has furnished him with, at least I hope so. Unfortunately there are men in ^11 ranks, who, for the sake of the profit novelty are ever certain of producing in the metropolis, that will sanction with their ncimes, what their judg- nieiits must condemn, otjierwise we should not have tolan>ent the late enormous increase of quacks, both ill religion and politics, as well as in medi- cine, in opposition to the most established truths. This, indeed, is the only ciiaritable mode of ac- counting Ibr our finding the name of a regular professional man, joined with Captain Blagrave's, in such a plan ; for 1 w ill not pay so ill a pompli- jiient tQ this person's miderstanding, as to believe for a moment that he places the least faith in tlie doctrines to which he has sold his name ; on tlie i.^ontrary, he cannot but hnow (froni his professional ( 8 , education) that there is nothing new m the plan recommended by Captain Blagrave ; it merely trains us back to those errors, which a practice of twenty years has endeavoured to remedy. I confidently repeat to your Royal Highness, that a deliberate conviction of the absurdity of the practice now recommended by Captain Bla- grave more than twenty years ago, led to the sys- tem of shoeing and treatment of the horse's foot, as at present practised by the Veterinary College ; that such practice has fully been proved to answer every expectation, and that so far from the Vete- rinary Surgeons in His Majesty's service having occasion to be ashamed of their theory in their practice^ a steady adherence to the principles of the former, is their best security for success in the latter. This is most triumphantly proved by the entire removal of those diseases (which were the result of the very mode of shoeing now recom- tnended by Captain Blagrave J ; many of these dis^ eases, such as cankered feet, &.c. &c. were /or- merly fatal. All of which are now utterly un- known throughout His Majesty's cavalry. If there was any truth in the principles laid down by Captain Blagrave, it would naturally follow that in exact ratio as the frog of the horse's foot was exposed to come in contact with hard substances, would it be liable to become (what he terms) braised, and consequently diseased; whereas (unfortunately for this position) the direct reverse is the case invariably. And your Royal ( 9 ) Highness can upon ocular demonstration convince yourself, by a selection of all sorts of horses from all sorts of work, that in proportion as the froj; of the horse's foot is upon a level with the heels (I may say as it is bold and prominent),^ will the foot ]>e iound to be sound and healthy ; and as the frog is prevented (by removal from pressure) from exercising its natural functions, according to the length of time and degree in which its functions have been so suspended, will the foot be found to be in a state of disease. 'i he injudicious application of Mr. Coleman's ih'iii-hcclcd shoe, by the enemies to the Vetennary College, is what alone has brought it into* dis-. repute ; to guard against this misapplication has ever been Mr. Coleman's endeavour, both in liis lectures and in his writings, by forcibly inculcating: this truth : — " that the very worst possible shoe " would do less injury to the animal, if the foot " was properlj^ prepared to receive it, than the " eery best shoe, if such attention was neglected '' in preparing the foot;" and in all cases he re- commends, " that w here the frog has been long- *' removed from pressure, eitlier by an improper " quantity of iron at the heels of tlie s])oe, or an *' improper depth of horn at llint part of the foot, " to Jower the heels no more at each tiipe of shoe- " ing, than what could be taken from the length " cf the toe," thereby keeping; the foot in the state of equilibrium in which we found it ; thus, even in this instance, the doctrine of straining the ( 10 ) liorse, by letting him too suddenli/ down, falls to the ground. But how will the utmost ingenuity of man find a rational objection to the thin-keeled shoe on its Jirst application to the foot of a Colt ; for however small a quantity of iron is first put, cannot have the effect of letting the horse down (as attempted to be proved by the opponents to the veterinary system of shoeing, &c.), and still less can the frog be more exposed than it v. as in the natural state of the foot ; indeed, the taking of Nature for our basis, and keeping the foot as much in that state, as the artiiicial mode in which we use the animal will admit of, has led to those beneficial results, which icw, 1 believe, will at- tempt to dispute, except the ci-devant Captain and his renegado Vet. and the lovers of novell y for novelty's sake. I beg pardon for expecting your Royal Iligh- Ress should devote your valuable time to sucli points, it only remains for me thus publicly to contradict the charge made by Captain Blagrave, "^ that the practice of the Veterinary Surg«r;OOs in " His Majesty's service, is at variance with their " theory ;'* and I appeal to the whole of those Gentlemen to bear me out in the statement I have made, which so far mjjy be said to amount only to " assertion against asscrLiim.''. \ therefore hereby pledge myself (whenever your Royal Highness will graciously condescend to atford me an opportu- nity), that I villi praclicalli/ confute, and clearly demonstrate to tbe ccnvictioi) of ypur Rqval High- ( 11 ) ness, that the most baneful clTects are certain to result from the system of shoeing, and treatment of the liorse's foot, as recommended by Captain JBIagrave. It is my duty humbly to state to your Royal Highness what are my pretensions to solicit your attention, in opposition to those of Captain Bla- grave. After regularly prosecuting my studies as a Veterinary Surgeon, i obtained my Diploma, signed by " Henry Cline, Dr. Babington, and Professor Coleman," part of the Medical Com- mittee for the examination of Students from the Veterinary College. I was then appointed, at the recommendation of Lord Ileathfiekl, Veterinary Surgeon to tlie 20lh Dragoons, on their arrival from Jamaica, and continued in that regiment during the whole period of its being remounted, till they were again ordered for service. I was then (being thought a proper sul)ject, having a large lamily) removed to the Ordnance service, as a more stationary duty. In the Eastern District, I had the constant charge of more than one thousand horses, besides the recruiting of great nambers for otiier parts. On the late expedition to the St heldt, I had intrusted to my selection and care nearly the same number of horses belonging to ihe Ordnance. IMy present station is chiefly used as a dcjjot for young horses, recruited and sent from Woolwich ; and in the course of ten years of t){is sort oi varied practice, I never knew or heard of a weli-autheuficaiiid case, where the practice, { 1-2 ) as rccoiiimended by the Veterinary College, was productive of any other consequences than what were high'^^ benelicial to his Majesty's service. 1 have the honour, Most respectfully to subscribe myself, Your Royal Highness's, Most faithful, and most devoted humble servant, GEORGE PRICE. Veterinary Surgeon to H. JM. Ordnanc#j ■for the Medway Uistritt, .A rtilkry Barracks, ChaUiam. Note. — Bi/ return of post 1 received tlie follow- ing answer to my letter^ which I inclosed, under cover, to the Secretary to the Prince Regent. ^'' Major-General Turner presents his compli- vnents to Mr, George Price^ and has the honour to inform him, that his statement has been, hij com^ viand of the Prince Regent,, referred to the Board of Ordnance.'' " Yprk House, 30th September, IS 11." , Ihe result of the enquiry has proved, that Captain Blagrave's statement in his Prospectus, relative to the Practice of Veterinary Surg^ions i« the Army, is utterly devoid of truth. TO THE FUBLia A. THING*, styling ITSELF "A Subscriber to die Oxford-street Institution/* in a Grub-street production, entitled, " An Epistle to Mr. Profes- sor Coleman," has thought proper to offer what it calls Remarks on the foregoing Letter, to use the elegant language of the Epi^stle, I hope I shall soon jjrove how '•^preciously absurcV these Remarks are ; and I have no doubt create a blush of shame on -the face of those who have been iiji- duced to lend their interest to a cause, requiring such wretched means of support. In respect to my biography — from what source this thing of an author derived its information, I know not ; but I beg leave to state, that there is not one word of truth from the beginning to the end of it. I have, indeed, been fond of " handling the ribbon," from a child, and felt the greatest delight " in rumpling the sarsnet ;Y* but neither of these amuse- ments, in the sense my Biographer has implied, * I have been compelled to designate it a thing, because there is no distinct species of composition by which I can form any probable conjecture as to Ihe gender of the writer; the style is not sufficiently impassioned for a female, and far too flimsy for my ideas of raal't? c-.>mpositioh. It may wear breeches, but the cowardly mode of at- tack proves it cannot be a man. t In the Epistle, I am called " a quondam dealer in sarsnet ribbon:?, " and shoe ties ;" and said to have stept from behind a counter intu iny curncle, on being appoint.-d Veterinary Surgeon to the 20th Dra- go:.ns. How eight shilliugs a day was to effect this, I am at a loss lu ( 14 ) At the early age of 15, I commenced with tlie profession of the law ; not liking that study, I went into the Militia, and obtained my first com- mission before I was seventeen years old — so that tnore than one half of my life has been spent in His Majesty's service : indeed, there is a whimsi- cal Coincidence in^Captain Blagrave's pursuits and mine in early life. The author of the Epistle is equally unfortunate in applying the title of " Loving Cousin'' (and arguing therefrom — a col- lusion) between Mr. Coleman and me ; though nearly allied to that Gentleman by marriage, we have not for years past been even on speaking' terms. Having, therefore, thus far proved that this thinjT of an author has not written one word of truth, I will proceed vrith the examination of the Epistle — but I must take the author from oif the stilts of metaphor, and examine the Remarks fas they are called J on my Letter, by plain common sense. The F.pistie contradicts itself palpably in several instances — and the author, lilie many before him, quotes from another language with- out understanding our own poor mother-tongue ; for instance, I am called in page 10 of the Epis- tle, "a hacker of hoofs ;" and j-et, in page 13, I am condemned for holding the horse's foot so " sacred from the knife." Thus much for the consistency of this literary advocate of apostacy and quackery. The Epistle, it is declared, was wrote " not '' with a view of supporting Captain Blagrave's ( 13 ) *^ system oi managing horses — the almost invariable *' success attending its practice — speaking loud " enough*" — of course not? All that is as clear as the sun at noon-day- — eve?i more so ; it is as clear as what the Captain tells us in his Prospectus — is true ; that he is not influenced by any sordid ideas of filthy lucre ; his rank, his character, his connections — -setting him far above such suspi- cions!. The author of this Grub-street production tells lis, that the Epistle was written to amuse himself, and the Noblemen, Sfc. who are the supporters of the Oxford-street Institution. What a satire is this upon those distinguished characters ! Is there a man in any rank of life but wlio would feel ashamed to acknowledge, that he could be amused by such a production ? Does this thino- dare even to insinuate, that the Great Personage alluded to, couid be pleased with such wretched stuff? There is not even an attempt at ai-gument throughout the whole. Had tlie author even been correct in my biography, how viould that have affected my present, or future knowledge of the structure and diseases of the horse. John Hunler was a carpenter, and Lord Erskine a sailer, jet no one ever made an objection to their professional acquirements on that account. * If this is literary language, the Lord defend me from ever having such an ativocate. *=■ + The common caut of every quack, from Katterfelto to Hie pre- sent hour. The silhscripLion of two guiticas to the Instituiion, aud oue guiuca to the For-e, iucoaleslihiy proves tJte truth of alUhii. ( i6 ) After tlic necessary foundation — the stad^ of the structure and economij of the horse, I have, for ten years past, had the most ample ticld for experience in the diseases of the animal ; yet it appears that these advantages are mere pre- tensions, Compared to the all-asserting Joseph Bla- grave's claims to public notice. M?/ opportunities of acquiring information, in the course of my profession, nothing; when compared to those of a Militia and Driver Captain. Yet this miserable defender of a miserable cause, acknowledges, in page 8 of the Epistle, that tJie Captain " does *' not pretend to professional- — that is, anatomi- *' cal skill," wliich is, in fact, admitting that h© is ignorant of the existence, situation, formation and functions, consequently diseases, of the con- tents of the hoof, on which the principles and practice of shoeing ought chiefly to be founded *< Wonld any man employ another to rectify his tvatch, merely because lie was acquainted with the stirface r and as to the Captain s perfect know- ledge of the living animal, it may be useful to him as a jockey, on the turf, or in the field ; but by no means conveys the necessary information to treat, with any chance of success, the internal ditcases to which the horse m.ay be liable. Wheri * The author of the Epistle gives us (amopsj a variety of other notable specalalioos cf the Captain's) the following: — In a note, page 12, — ^^ Captain Blagrave proves, that amon<::;st the many evils in- " duccd Ssy bringing the frog in contact with the ground, ari ahafC' **• ment of speed is not the least."" According to tliis doctrine lli& method, so long and so successfully adopted, of shoein;^ racc-horscs with tips, or hcJ/shoeK, ought to be abandoned, and the hng-heeifd UUltid Aus of *^ Joscuh Elagrare, £sq/' instant!)' adopted. ( 17 ) people do not possess the substance oi patronage, they are fond of parading the shadow. \ am pom- pously told " to move my doctortorial limbs into *' the office of the Institution^ '^vhere I may see •' the permission to use the Prince Regent's name, *' in the hand-icriting of one of His Royal High' *• ness's principal attendants." ^Vhoever doubted this kind of permision ? I merely said that I dis- believed His Royal Highness over granted his patronage to the extent claimed (to the unquali- tied abuse which this Institution, under the co- lour of his high name, thought proper to bestow upon a whole profession). It is impossible to take up a newspaper without seeing the Prince Regent's nominal sanction to the vending of cosmetics, and a variety of things ; am 1 therefore bound to consider his R03 al Highness as having that kind of confidence in the infallibility of these nos- trums, as to take them himse/f. With the urbanity which distinguishes that exalted character, it is impossible, in his situation, to refuse all the re- quests of this nature, which may, through such various channels, be made to his benevolence. I well remember, some years since, seeing, finely em- blazoned in golden characters, the name of " Ben- *'Jamm liffin, Bug Destroyer to His Majesty-'* but I did not, as a boy, even believe that the King employed this Mr. Tiffin for any such purpose, ^t hy not tell us of the number of horses thqy have had entrusted to their care by the Prince Regent *^what wers their cases — and the success of the ( IS ) treJttment adopted ? 71iis would liave answered their purpose better th;ui ail the scurrility of the Epistle. But this they could not do, and hence arose all their abuse. Another gross contradic- tion appears in the note, page 6. The success of Captain Blagrave's system is said to be owing to *' the approbation and celebrity it met with, in «' the Sussex District ;' and from his having *' communicated it to some particular friends ," and yet in page 12, it is ridiculously called a " secret^'' and said not to have been communicated to any one /" indeed, there is no end to such absurdi- ties, and I say again, God defend me from such an advocate. A Gentleman, who has distinguished himself by several realbj literary works on Agriculture, &c. (to whom i lent this infamous Epistle, and who was more than half inclined to give Joseph Blagrave, Esq, and I\lr. Goodwin, credit for a something)^ burst into a laugh when he came to the secret mode of shoeing^ and exclaimed, " I see *' now plainly through the business, the whole is a " gag to get money from the credulous ; for who '' but a fool would believe in a secret plan for " shoeing horses in tlie eighteenth century ! ! !" It shews a curious taste in the followers and admirers of the Captain, to select Sussex as the source from which he is to gatlier liis laurels ; of all places on earth this ought to ha^e been the last; for there his success was (to boiTOw a very descriptive phrase from my biographer) almost invariably of ( 19 ) that negative kiiuU that would have been conclu- sive to a mind less sanguine than the Captain's. I kno'vv not what particular cases he might select for the entertainment of his private friends, but this I know upon good autoritj, that the Public suiferedbj his notorious quackery; and that more aggravated cases of lameness, more bhamefr.lly diseased horses were sent to head-quarters from the Sussex District, than from all the otlter out- ports in Kngland, put them altogether ! ! ! ]\1y Letter to the Regent is termed, by the au- thor of this chaste Epistle, arrogant, abusive and absurd; though I undertook to ^jrorc what 1 ad- vanced, and courted enquiry into the truth of Ihe statement i made in contradiction to " Joseph Biagrave, JisqJ' I am reprobated for mj vanity in supposing that the Prince Regent would pay any attention to my Letter. His Royal Highness did pay every attention which I could either ex- pect or desire. He referred the matter, to what he considered the proper authority ; and the re- sult of the enquiry has been such as clearly to prove that the Captain of the Oxford-street Insti- tution had not a shadow of authority for his infa- mous aspersions on the character of the Army Veterinary Surgeons. If the author of the Epistle supposes that I should feel gratified hy shoeing a horse — even in the Royal Presence — I fear he entertains a wrong conception of my ideas of loyalty ; at all events, he very much mistakes the nature of ray ambition ; therefore fine as he ( 20 ) may consider tlie allegorical representation of my dream, when tried by the test of sober truth, it is all sheer nonsense, and more like the raving of a Bedlamite than the language of a m riter who profefees to advocate the cause of science. In fact the whole Epistle proves, to any man ac^ qnainted with Veterinary history, that the writer is grossl}^ ig'norant of the subject he has attemptecl to treat upon. The thin-heeled shoe had beei^ used with success by Osmer long before Mr. Cole- man's time ; and his objection to the foot of the horse being held sacred from the kiiife* ; and to the frog and hoof jogging on, as he terms if, lov- ingly together, that is, as God formed them, is the same as if he objected to his nose and face continuing their present intimacy and proportion ; indeed, that prominent feature, the proboscis, is very likely, 1 tiiink, to become elongated by the fingers of any man of common courage, if the au- thor of the Epistle in propria persona, deals his abuse as liberally as he does under the mask of a Subscriber. The answer to the four questions, at the con- clusion of the Epistle, is plain and easy enough. First. — There is a practical system of the vete- rinary art taught at the Veterinary College— a sjs- tern founded on an anatomical knowledge of the animal, and evert/ pupil takes his routine of duty, in personally dressing wounds, and aiiplying the * I jnean so far only ought the knife to be used, as to geb rid ( f that accunmlatum of morbid matter, which ^oture herself carniot get rid off, iu caiiscuished oii'iracters act as decoij ducks toothers ; he will by diish, I know, this spring endeavour to give the Insiitution every ])ossible eclat; but though hft may get barouche upon barouche, equipage ai'ter eqiiipage, to give a stage effect to his Siioe Manu- factorv ill Oxford-street, i foretel, that afler this ( 33 ) «msoH, the Thing will die a natural dtalh, and the Cap/ain be obiiged to seek some other profession^. There is a kind of obscure threat held out tOr wards me in the Epistle. I can only say, that I am " equally armed for either field ." \ alour that has taken so long to heat, has no terrors lor me ; and if the Captain, or L\ir. Goodwin, feel inclined to " Trts the cause,"' I flatter myself that they will find me more " Learned in the Law^' than I am in " shoe ties'' And now before I conclude, X will adjlress a few words^ personally, to the Cap- tain, and his friend Mr. Goodwin, that (medical weathercock |). I solemnly declare, that in my Letter to the Prince Regent, 1 was influenced by no other motive, than what I conceived to be a duty, to contradict the assertions made by Cap- t>ain Blagrav.e in his Prospectus, which I felt, as iar as my own observation went, to be utterly ialse ; and 1 felt justifled in using the expressions I did towards Mr, Goodwin, from his palpable apostacy. Had Messrs. Biagrave and Goodwin been content to have let the Oxford-street Institu-* * Just before the opening of the Institution, Captain B. met a Gen- tleman, well known to the writer of this, and, with all the pomposity cf a little great man, declared that " thai he was pestered to death hy " ]m j'viends—for his advice in J'eterinary matters; and that he had '^ adopted the plan of the Oxford-street Institution., on purpose to get " rid of lite in.'' We perfectly agree with him that he could not have hit upon a more happy expedient, for even the partiality of friends ■will not long bear up against the effects of the Captain's quackery. * It is not long since this person brought forward a horse shoe, which, though of n. new pattern, in its application fully admitted the .propriety of the frog receiving that pressure, which the Collejije prac- li<;e recommends, and which Mr.Goodwin now utterly denigs it should ,i*c-eive. Thu£ lUKch fi»r his cocsisteuey in v ( 24 ) tion rest upon its own merits, it could not fail very soon to have found its proper level. But when they commenced theiy career by a foul and tmqualilied attack upon a whole body of nun, like the Army Veterinary Surgeons, however much they might build upon the constitutional apathy of she Professor, tl:ey could not suppose thai the whole profession would quietly sit down under their abuse. God knows there are fools enouah in the metropolis to afford an honest livdihood to quacks of every description, without resorting to tlic abuse of regular Practitioners. Bear me witness ye Brodiim's aiid ye Brec's, je Sainton's and ye So- lomon's, ye J3e VeJiio's and Van Butchei's, and a thousand others, Capt. Blagrave and I may diiler as to wlr.it is, or is not the proper language of a Gentleman (a term, unfortunately very indefinite in the present C^y) but I do assure him that he shall never experience from me conduct that is mmianlfj. I uill never, assassin-like, stab in the dark. I will never write that, to which I would h^i eAtlv^Y asha7}ied ov afraid to put my name; and iii all cases I should consider it my duty to ascer- tain the truth of a statement, before I gave it to the Public, particularly in what regarded a man's private history. \f qxhy I condescend to become the Captain s biograp]ier, he shiill tind that I pos- sess he. iter :50urces of iqtelligence, respecting his career through life, than the author of the wretched Epistle appears to have had of mine. 1 have one particular request to make— I d© { 23 ) most earnestly beg of Captain Blagrave, that though [ have rjearly proved there is not one woid of truth in the '• Epistle to Professor Coleman/* he will not, on tliat slight accoitnt^ call it in vith such micouimon haste, as he did his far-iaiiii^d Prospectus. I beseech him not to deprive the literary world of such an inleilectnal treat, as tJie elegant E])istle cannot fail to prove to all uho peruse it. Let it be carefully preserved iu the *' Caliinets of the Cnrious," as a j^recious spcci- pjon of soii;! sense and sound argument in ihe eigiiLeenth century, displayed in the " DiJ'aice of '■'■ a Secret Plan for Shoeing Ilursea / / / / / /'* GF.ORGE PRICE, Ordnance Veterinary Surgeorit tMednaii Diiirlcl. CialLum Lines, Isl. Febnuiru, 1SI2. Piitiled by J. Korton, 272, Sirard, ^r^