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the only absolute certainty is on the side of the 

 former. 



Mr. Gamgee says, as we all know, that this cattle 

 plague is never taken spontaneously. I say it is. 

 I say I know half-a-dozen instances within five 

 miles of my own house, some of them my own 

 tenants, where there had been no communication, 

 and therefore no contagion, and yet the plague 

 broke out. Oh, but (our Professor would say) the 

 air carried it, or a dog, or a cat, or a bird, or a rat. 

 But if this is called an argument, I will prove the 

 same about anything whatever. Broken knees in 

 horses, for instance. Suppose I choose to assert, 

 that broken knees can only be taken by contagion, 

 Mr. Gamgee would doubtless bring several instances 

 to show the contrary. I say these instances prove 

 nothing- because the air will carry " tumbling 

 down" in horses, any distance almost, and insects 

 carry it, and dogs are known by everybody to carry 

 it constantly. The proof is absolutely as complete 

 in the one case as the other. 



In one place Mr. Gamgee tells us how forty cows 

 in Lancashire died of the plague, and how they 

 were known to have caught it by contagion, because 

 a short time before it broke out, a box of butter had 

 arrived from an infected district at the farm where 

 they were. 



The fact is, the only real argument Mr. Gamgee 

 has that will bear looking at, is the assertion, no 

 doubt true enough, that one beast will often catch 



