22 METHODS OF ELUCIDATING DISEASE. 



rational exercise of the principles of prophylactics or preven- 

 tives than aught else that we may assert our right and capacity 

 of acting as sanitary officers in warding off and reducing to 

 the minimum the harassing and destructive epizootics to which 

 our animals are liable. 



2. In managing the actually diseased, if we may not be able 

 to cure — that is, to arrest and remove disordered activities 

 when they arise — we should remember that much may be done 

 to confer upon the animal sufficient power whereby it may be 

 safely guided through the course of the disease without mate- 

 rially damaging its future usefulness, and leaving as a legacy 

 such conditions as will render it at some future time more 

 susceptible of the same or some other disorder. 



Also that although as a rule wrong in principle to treat 

 symptoms irrespective of morbid conditions, upon which they 

 evidently depend, yet much benefit may result from judicious 

 attempts at their alleviation. Such palliative measures always 

 recommend themselves to the careful practitioner, both from 

 the immediate benefit to the suffering, and the chance that 

 they will tend to obviate evil results and render recovery more 

 perfect. 



The lines of our treatment are laid down for us in the 

 nature, causes, and seat of the disease, together with agencies 

 which are operating intrinsically and extrinsically, and the 

 stage of the diseased process at which our intervention takes 

 place. 



The exact forms in which our treatment comes into opera- 

 tion are — (a) The purely medicinal, comprising the employ- 

 ment, systemically and locally, of such medicinal agents and 

 topical manipulatory interference as observation and experi- 

 ment have indicated are likely to be productive of benefit. 

 (6) All measures of a dietetic and hygienic character which a 

 just appreciation of the disease and its surroundings indicate, 

 including a judicious arranging, not merely of the food and 

 water, but also of the clothing, general treatment, and sanitary 

 conditions of the location. By these often more may be accom- 

 plished than through the use of drugs. All must by the pro- 

 fessional attendant be ordered and strictly indicated in detail. 



