436 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



casional cutting and moistening of food, and its more or less 

 perfect steaming, — the occasional introduction of bran mashes 

 into the weekly regimen, — will give that variety that the per- 

 manent health of the animal requires ; and the necessity for 

 administering medicines will be very largely avoided. 



Without by any means wishing to enter the lists in the con- 

 test between allopathy and homeopathy, I cannot refrain from 

 saying that my own experience, which has been but slight, and 

 my observation, which has been considerable, both lead me to 

 believe that, so far as it is necessary to administer medicines 

 at all to domestic animals, the seemingly insignificant doses of the 

 homeopathic practitioner are more rapidly effective, and far less 

 injurious in their permanent results, than are the old prescriptions. 

 And if there is any real foundation at all for the rapid and general 

 establishment of homeopathy throughout the world, it is only 

 reasonable that in the treatment of domestic animals its effect 

 should be more certain and more active than in the treatment of 

 our own diseases, for the reason that the diet of the brute world 

 is so simple and inoffensive that there is little danger, either of 

 a counteracting of the effect of the medicine, or of the creation 

 of such a condition of the system as will require the vigorous 

 action of large doses. 



Several works on veterinary homeopathy have been published, 

 which contain sufficiently full and sufficiently simple instruc- 

 tions for the administering of the remedies in those cases in which 

 the character of the disease can be determined. In preparing 

 for the press, several years ago, the book known as Herbert's 

 " Hints to Horsekeepers," I compiled a chapter on veterinary 

 homeopathy, which is as applicable at the present day as at the 

 time when it was written. This chapter was made up chiefly 

 from material found in Schaefer's " New Manual of Veterinary 

 Homeopathic Medicine," and the " Hand-Book of Veterinary 

 Homeopathy " by John Rush, The instructions of this chapter 



