AGRICULTURE AJSD THE HORSE. 409 



move by their use. I heard my family physician say 

 once, when my son John was lying ill of typhoid-fever, 

 ''Watch him, and keep him comfortable. The chances 

 are that Nature will work herself out of the trouble with 

 but little aid of ours : if so, the convalescence will be 

 rapid and steady. But if we must help Nature, why, we 

 must ; but we shall have to cure the disease we create 

 in that event, as well as the one we now have." Some 

 medical man once told me that medicines generally sub- 

 stitute one disease for another ; and, as Nature cannot 

 well do two things at the same time, we may turn her 

 attention from what is unmanageable to what is easily 

 controlled. I think there is something in this ; for 1 

 can readily understand that the condition of body pro- 

 duced by mercury, and iodide of potassium, and opium, 

 and digitalis, and quinine, is as much a disease as rheu- 

 matism and colic, and palpitation of the heart, and fever 

 and ague. This a man can undoubtedly bear, if he can 

 only move about his business or his pleasure. But a 

 horse cannot. He must be " pretty well," or his machine 

 will not work. He is, moreover, very easily affected by 

 medicine. His system feels it much more readily than 

 does that of man ; and he cannot throw off its effects as 

 rapidly as man can. I gave a horse some small doses 

 of antimony, many years ago, to give him a glossy coat ; 

 and he was nearly a year recovering from the evidently 

 prostrating influence of the drug. So I am of the 

 opinion that we should avoid dosing our horses as much 

 as possible. I should recommend early attention to the 



