Louise Hill Curth

An outstanding book which gives a thorough overview of veterinary medicine in England from the 15th to the 18th centuries. The author starts by giving a very clear explanation of premodern theories of disease and health for humans, with discussion of the humoral theory and factors such as astrology and how it was used. She then explains how this was applied to animal healing. She also describes the different layers of of healers from the highest professional farriers (members of the Company of Farriers) to the lowest itinerant animal healer and the household healers- the husbands and wives who owned the animals. She thoroughly discusses the literature, from high and learned to lowly, including almanacs, which appealed to the lowest common denominator among the populace. She makes a very strong argument that other historians are incorrect in assuming that all healers below the level of farrier were illiterate, incompetent butchers, and that the transition to professional veterinary training at the Royal Veterinary College beginning in 1791 was an abrupt change. In fact, the knowledge one received at the RVC was not very different from what was already being practiced and what was already in the literature in the 18th century (and even the 16th and 17th centuries). She did not acknowledge that the movement to begin this professional veterinary school arose because of the Enlightenment and the desire (if only theoretical) to study the horse scientifically and use more empirical methods of treating them. She also points out that most argue that the RVC was founded because of several cattle plague outbreaks in Britain during the 18th century, however the RVC only taught practitioners about horses, not cattle. She also did not factor in that the British founded the RVC in part out of insecurity that its primary military and economic rival, France, had more than one vet school and was considered to have an advantage because of it. Overall, an outstanding book- highly recommended. Unfortunately her publisher, Brill, did not do her text justice: there were numerous typographical errors that showed a poor proofreading job.… (more)