234 THE HISTORY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



thing which such actions on the part of those intrusted with their care 

 would lead us to assume that it was. On the contrary, the study of 

 disease is one of the most difficult tasks which the human intellect 

 has to cope with, and, while many men pass through life with the 

 reputation of successful practitioners, still it is but the limited few 

 who gain entrance to the " holy of holies," and acquire much inti- 

 mate acquaintance with disease itself. That an occasional quack is 

 rewarded by success is not to be wondered at, when we take into 

 consideration the recuperative powers of Dame Nature herself. Noth- 

 ing is more amusing, more saddening, than to hear self-important 

 practitioners ooast of their cures. It is very, very hard, as many dis- 

 tinguished men have admitted, and as every man who has devoted 

 time to experiment in pathological and therapeutical research, but 

 especially the latter, knows, to positively decide whether the im- 

 provement which one sees in a given patient is due to the recupera- 

 tive powers of Nature, to a weakening of the active properties of 

 the cause of the disease, or to the action of drugs which have been 

 offered. 



The best and most skillful practitioners are but handmaids, ser- 

 vants, to Nature, and he is the best practitioner who most scrupu- 

 lously holds to the rule, " hands off," and with religious regard aims 

 to support the ever-active recuperative power, efforts, of the physio- 

 logical functions. It is seldom given to the attendant upon organ- 

 isms afflicted with inner diseases to effect radical cures ; this boon 

 is, however, occasionally awarded to the surgeon. Only the quack 

 proclaims to have the radical panacea which can cure all and every- 

 thing. But to return to our subject : 



The period which we are now considering in the history of vet- 

 erinary medicine is marked by the appearance of several works of 

 great historical importance. The first of these was the " Hippi- 

 atrica" of Jordanus Rufus, " Marescallus Major" to the court of 

 Frederick II of Sicily. The king is reported to have assisted on 

 the work. Rufus seems to have known but little of the writings of 

 his Greek and Roman predecessors, but, according to Haeser, was 

 not unacquainted with several works of Arabian origin. His mind 

 appears to have been remarkably free from the superstitions of his 

 time. He describes quite a number of diseases, among them lami- 

 nitis, vulgarly called founder, glanders, tetanus, etc. 



Schraeder * says of him : " He was born in Calabria, in the 

 twelfth or thirteenth century, and was from a noble family, and, 

 like many gentlemen of his position, busied himself with training 



* Loc. cit., p. 368. 



