46 



Rinderpest at all. It was very injudicious by the 

 bye, his being- so precipitate, for they all died after 

 all. 



All the English veterinary surgeons said the 

 plague first came by railway from Russia, through 

 Revel to Hull. But Dr. Jessen (a Russian) said 

 there was no plague in or near Revel, and no rail- 

 way into Revel. Oh^ but (said Mr. Ernes), the 

 Revel cargo did not come from Revel, it came from 

 Riga. In Aberdeenshire the disease was stamped 

 out, and re-appeared five times. Oh, but (said Mr. 

 Gamgee) this was only because it was not stamped 

 out also in the neighbouring counties. Yerily, the 

 knowledge of these learned professors is so profound 

 and multifarious, that they have an answer ready 

 for every thing. 



As I have said above, it is quite true that we can- 

 not understand why one district is affected whilst 

 the next one escapes. There is always the same dif- 

 ficulty whether the question be of rinderpest in cattle, 

 or cholera, or any other epidemic amongst men, or 

 even common colds. But because we cannot un- 

 derstand it, that is no reason why we should invent 

 what we call explanations, and talk about subtile 

 emanations carried by cats and dogs. Formerly 

 people often could not understand why a cow was 

 taken ill, but that was no reason why they should 

 burn a witch for being' the cause of it. Surely if we 

 do not understand a thing, it would be much better 

 to say so at once. Luther, when he was once con- 



