GROOMS of a certain description are, in general, too much disposed to a degree of self-consequence, and studiously endeavour to obtain an ASCENDANCY in the stabularian department, to which, if the master imprudently and _pusillanimously_ submits, he becomes in some degree a non-entity, and bids adieu to every particle of power upon his own premises. The groom once possessed of _this power_, and conscious of the ground he stands upon, becomes so confident of his own _imaginary_ superiority, that the master is little more than an instrument of mere passive convenience; barely permitted _to think_, hardly presuming TO SPEAK, or, in fact, _daring_ to _obtrude_ an OPINION even where his own horses, their health, and safety, are concerned. Grooms, so long as they continue to execute the trust reposed in them with fidelity, that is, with _care_, _kindness_, _punctuality_, and _attention_ to their HORSES, and a dutiful attachment to their employers, will ever find themselves respected; but when, from a false, ridiculous, and ill-founded confidence, they exceed the bounds of consistency, and go beyond their own sphere, in an _affected_ knowledge of the PROPERTY of MEDICINE, QUACKING their masters' HORSES, and becoming _self-coined Veterinarians_, they, in the eye of every judicious observer, abandon their own merits, and render themselves objects of both pity and contempt.
This _affectation_ of MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE is so very prevalent with _stabularian gentlemen_, that they support it with a great degree of irritable tenacity; and would sooner have even their HONESTY, than their _medical ability_ called in question. To stem the torrent of this dangerous practice, should be the first principle, and persevering determination, of every GENTLEMAN, who expects to see his HORSES in good CONDITION, and his _servants_ in a state of _uniformity_: and if he wishes to shield himself from mental disquietude, and his horses from perpetual persecution, he will lay a serious injunction, that no _medicine_, or _nostrum_, whatever, shall be administered to any horse or horses under the GROOM'S care, without the MASTER'S acquiescence first had and obtained.
If GENTLEMEN will condescend to give the subject a trifling consideration, they will instantly perceive, that the symptoms of disease, the state of the body, the languor or velocity of the circulation, and the property of the blood itself, must require a greater degree of SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION, than people of this description have the power of going into; from which palpable fact may be inferred, the sole reason why they so often miscarry in their experiments, and so frequently render that a matter of permanent difficulty, which, _properly treated_, would have proved no more than a mere temporary inconvenience.