53 



gave them, instead of consulting- only their craving* 

 for riches and luxury, these towns would never have 

 been built. 



About contagion some say the question is of no 

 consequence j that all we want is to get rid of the 

 plague, and that the question of how it came is no 

 matter. I say it is of great consequence. I say 

 that disease in cattle, if right notions prevailed, 

 might in future be almost entirely prevented. My 

 moral in all I have said, is, that good food, cleanli- 

 ness, light, and open field management, would save 

 us from a repetition of this disease for all time. The 

 moral of Mr. Gamgee's book is, " They that are 

 filthy, let them be filthy still ;" for that all the dis- 

 eases mentioned therein are inevitable dispensations 

 of Providence. I preach food and air. Mr. Gamgee 

 preaches slaughter. 



I recommend farmers to read the latter part of 

 Dr. Lyon Playfair's little book about the Plague. It 

 is most excellent. No doubt he adopts many of 

 the veterinary delusions. But he could hardly help 

 doing* so, because all the evidence he had to go by 

 came through the profession. And evidence always 

 means what the giver of it wishes or has been taug-ht 

 to be true, and therefore what he really believes to 

 be so. Dr. Playfair says, that the rapid growth of 

 the disease, is owing to our g*ross neglect of sanitary 

 laws ; and that what is wanted, is by good manage- 

 ment to make our animals proof ag'ainst it as we 

 have already done with men in the case of Oriental 

 plague. 



