INTRODUCTION. 3 



human medicine; nature, in her acts, has 

 no such subtleties. With nature, organic 

 matter is organic matter, life is life ; and 

 although it may be true that both organic 

 matter and life become more complex, and 

 continue to rise in perfection till they reach 

 man, it is quite as true that the laws of patho- 

 logy and physiology are the same in all, and 

 that it is just as difficult to cure the typhus of 

 the ox as that of man. As, therefore, it is 

 because we overlooked these fundamental 

 truths, that the outbreak of the cattle dis- 

 temper found us unprepared, we must treat the 

 subject with all the gravity which is its due. 



Let it not, however, be feared that the 

 special fact of the so-called Cattle Plague will 

 be lost sight of amidst a crowd of scientific 

 generalities. No ; collateral reflections, seem- 

 ingly foreign to the main argument, will 

 concur to elucidate it ; and all these rays of 

 light will converge to a common centre, 

 reflecting, we flatter ourselves, some evident 

 facts and practical truths. 



This work on the contagious typhus of the 

 ox is divided into four principal parts. 



The first part contains the history of this 

 B 2 



