DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 551 



made before we can hope to comprehend these matters. 

 Although the functions of the brain and nerve centres are pro- 

 bably the most interesting of all the subjects at present com- 

 manding the attention of scientific men, although it is of the 

 greatest possible moment that we should*understand them, still 

 it cannot be said that much real progress has been made in the 

 course of investigation. 



Much has been, and is still being, done by way of investi- 

 gation in reference to these matters, and in various directions 

 much useful knowledge has been obtained. For instance, so 

 nicely and so accurately are the centres which govern various 

 movements now recognised, that the seat of lesion in the brain 

 and cord can frequently be diagnosed with precision, and actual 

 cures can be obtained by operations through the walls of the 

 skull, and even through those of the spinal column. Such dis- 

 coveries as these are truly wonderful, and they seem to pave 

 the way towards even more important work still. There can 

 be no doubt whatever that in the not far distant future still 

 greater discoveries will be made, and further marvellous results 

 attained by those who work on and on, patiently and surely, and 

 with careful earnestness. Every branch of this wide subject 

 should be most carefully worked at, and in this relation it 

 is to be borne in mind that research among the normal and 

 abnormal phenomena of the nervous system in lower animals is 

 of the highest moment, in that the information thereby gained 

 helps us to understand the mechanism in man himself. 



True it is that in themselves the diseases of the nervous system 

 of oxen are not of great import, even so far as the owner of 

 stock is concerned. If we could not see a very much higher 

 purpose to be saved than that which appeals to the pocket in 

 this case, we should have very little reason indeed for insisting 

 upon the value of the most careful study in this direction. In 

 many cases of nervous disturbance in these animals, it is by far 

 the best policy at once to order our patient to be summarily 

 slaughtered. This is the simplest and the wisest plan, and it is 

 certainly in nine cases out of ten the most economical. There 

 are, however, exceptional instances where treatment may be 

 called for. Yet, notwithstanding these cases, the derangements 

 of the ox's nervous system are of such small importance that, 

 were it not for the light which a study of them cannot but shed 



