The Cattle- Plarjue. 2d1 



do cure disease. The best example is afforded by Jesuits' bark, 

 which certainly cuts ague short. But the majority of remedies 

 are not thus effectual. The medical practitioner, looking before- 

 hand and perceiving in Avhat way the malady threatens to prove 

 fatal, employs them to excite in the system an action opposite to 

 the fatal tendency. He has made notable advances in pathology 

 and diagnosis, but for the rest trusts mainly to the vis medicatrix 

 natura;, aided by hygienic means and a few simple drugs. No 

 man of sound education pretends now a days to cure, for example, 

 such infectious disorders as typhus, scarlatina, and small-pox. 

 All that can be done in such cases is to place the patient in 

 those conditions which have been found most conducive to 

 recovery. It is thus that we haA'e banished the black death that 

 used to mow down the populations once tenanting the rush- 

 covered floors of the middle ages. 



Curative. — The Veterinary School having thrown up the case 

 at once as incurable, the Homoeopaths struck in to save the 

 credit of the faculty. A word or two must follow descrip- 

 tive of their attempts to stay the plague. It will be within 

 the memory of all that a letter detailing the experience of 

 Dutch Homoeopathic practitioners appeared from Mr. Caied 

 on the 17th October. He reported the recovery under this 

 system of 50 per cent. The force of public opinion secured 

 an opportunity for this school to do its best, Avhich it appears 

 to have done. Under the guidance of a Homoeopathic Asso- 

 ciation, of which the Duke of MaelbOEOUGH was chairman, 

 organised attacks were made upon the rinderpest in Norfolk, 

 Cheshire, and Yorkshire. The Norfolk attack — owing, it is 

 stated, to the disregard of instructions on the part of the owners — 

 pretty nearly failed ; at least the recoveries did not average more 

 than 16 per cent. The York attack Avas more successful, the 

 staff of assistants Avas larger and better qualified. " Since the 

 9th November," writes !Mr. Pope (M.R.C.S. and surgeon to 

 the York Homoeopathic Hospital), "117 animals suffering from 

 cattle-plague in all stages were treated, not together in a sanito- 

 rium, but at large in various farm-steadings around \ ork. During 

 the first seven weeks the recoveries were 40 per cent, of those 

 attacked. With improved experience the recoveries at the close 

 of the time rose to 50 per cent," making allowance for a few 

 cases of mismanagement. This practitioner states the essentials 

 of his treatment to be — 



" the commencement of treatment in an early stage, cjood nursing, constant 

 attention, scrupulous cleanliness, suitable diet, and a truly Jwnueopafhic medicine. 

 "With the presence or absence of these the rate of mortalitj" fell or rose. If 

 treatment begins four or five days after the appearance of the characteristic 

 symptoms, it is almost sure to fail. Good nursing means assiduous attention, 

 warm clothing, efficient ventilation, &c. Suitable diet means the absence of 

 VOL. II.-^S. S. S 



