204 THE CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS 



them with the utmost solicitude? If the 

 physician, the enlightened interpreter of 

 morbid phenomena, did not direct them with 

 a bold and fearless hand, but abandoned 

 Nature to her helpless course, why, necessa- 

 rily, every patient would die, whereas a large 

 number are now saved. 



That which is true in the case of man, is 

 likewise true in the case of animals : we are 

 bound to treat them when they are ill. If to- 

 day we think it more expeditious and more 

 profitable to exterminate them, we certainly 

 neglect our duty. We are the sovereign 

 masters of animals ; they are the companions 

 of our toils and pleasures, their lives must be 

 given to preserve our own ; but on their well- 

 being and their happiness our own well-being 

 and happiness also depend. They will return 

 to us the sufferings and diseases of which they 

 die a hundred times over. Like ourselves, 

 they die of consumptive, tubercular, cancerous, 

 eruptive, typhoid, and parasitical diseases. 

 And who can tell whether they have not com- 

 municated these disorders to man, who was, 

 perhaps, originally exempt from them; and 



