SHOEING SMITH
.—The shoeing smith, more frequently known by the denomination of BLACKSMITH or FARRIER, is, unluckily for those who profess it, a business of much greater bodily labour than professional emolument; hence it is, that few, except the very lowest classes of society, can ever be prevailed upon to engage in it. Here then has always been the deficiency so much complained of, and so universally known, with all the practitioners of the old school, acting as SMITHS and FARRIERS, whether in town or country; and it is much to be regretted, that their original want of education, the means of instruction, and their total ignorance of the properties of MEDICINE, should have hitherto secluded them from every chance of mental improvement, and personal emulation. If we advert to their manners, we find them in direct uniformity with their intellectual capacity: rude by nature, they become cunning by art; unfortunately untaught, it is their greatest pride to become proportionally untractable, and know so little themselves, they confidently affect to believe but little is known by others: shielded by which ideal sagacity, they obstinately persist in an opinion of their own, in opposition to every other, or individually determine to abide by no rational opinion at all.
When a candid comparison is made between their dangerous and laborious employment and their disproportioned emoluments, it must be admitted by every mind of liberality, they are the worst paid for their drudgery of any set of men in the universe. Hence arises that sterile apathy in the business, which is so much the subject of general indignation and universal contempt; and is the only well-founded reason, why there are so few men of education, or intellectual ability, to be found amidst the daily increasing number who profess the practice. Custom, too, has excluded them from any respectable weight in the scale of society; thereby rendering the obstacles to worldly elevation too numerous, and too uncertain, for even the most laudable and spirited emulation to encounter, with even a distant probability of success. These considerations readily reconcile it to reason, why (upon the most moderate calculation, taking the kingdom in general from one extremity to another) there are not more than one in every hundred, who exists by the practice of SHOEING and FARRIERY, that can speak with precision upon the property of the MEDICINE he prescribes; or elucidate, with propriety, the probable process, or ultimate effect, of the OPERATION he recommends.
In such predicament, probably anxious to do good, without the personal power to EFFECT it, they may be impartially considered "men more sinned against than sinning;" and, in many instances, much more entitled to the commiseration of the enlightened, than the contemptuous indifference they so frequently receive. Happily, however, for the vocation itself, much more happily for the community at large, improvement in the PRACTICE of FARRIERY has at length become an object of national consideration; and the institution has been repeatedly honored with PARLIAMENTARY CONTRIBUTIONS; under which predictive ray of reformation, part of the present generation may probably not only derive future advantage, but live to see the former system rescued from the ignorance and barbarity by which it has been for so many centuries disgraced. The great hazard arising from the practice of the injudicious or ill informed, is their possessing an unrestrained power of plunging into a bold and inconsiderate use of the most dangerous medicines, the present operation and ultimate effect of which they so little understand, and are so absolutely unable to explain.
It is no uncommon thing to hear of bleeding, rowelling, purging, glystering, and blistering, nearly all taking place (with the same subject) within the space of twenty-four hours; and could a thousandth part of the poor unfortunate animals so rashly annihilated, but rise, and recite, the load of medical combustibles and contrarieties by which they were destined to their long and last sleep, what a complicated history of the MATERIA MEDICA would be brought to light, and what a scene of professional knowledge displayed, to form the basis of REFORMATION, with that long list of sublime disquisitionists, who, waving the disgraceful appellations of smith and farrier, are becoming VETERINARY SURGEONS in almost every remote corner of the kingdom! One great and almost invincible error amongst the veterinarian fraternity (of whom there are many juveniles now to be seen) is their superficial survey, and hasty decision, in cases of the utmost magnitude; anticipating the prognostics, without even descending to examine the predominant symptoms of DISEASE. Passionately fond of affecting infallibility, they rashly promise more than they find themselves able to perform; and thus by their own weakness, voluntarily exposed, are frequently compelled to retract to-morrow, what they have most inconsiderately asserted to-day; thereby overwhelming themselves with a load of professional disgrace, from which there seems no sanguine prospect of speedy extrication.
Smiths and FARRIERS in general, being unfortunately ignorant in the peculiar property of each particular medicine, is not a greater misfortune, than their being absolute strangers to the medicines themselves, thereby becoming the standing dupes of adulteration. The warehouses and shops of inferior druggists, it is well known by men of experience, are by no means remarkable for professional purity; in some obscure corner of which is generally a reservoir of rubbish, admirably adapted to the prise and practice of FARRIERS, with whom a custom so laudable has been established for time immemorial, and from the palpable pecuniary effects upon both parties is not likely to be abolished.