692 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



black- quarter. A stimulant may be administered, the surface 

 may be rubbed, and in certain cases the veterinary surgeon may 

 think it well to make incisions through the skin. It is generally 

 associated with marked debility in animals, and is best treated 

 by careful feeding. 



Before we conclude our consideration of the skin by a discus- 

 sion of those which depend upon parasitic organisms, both 

 animal and vegetal, we wish to insist upon a very noteworthy 

 fact, and one which very many persons lose sight of, namely, 

 that the three intimately connected sciences of therapeutics, 

 medicine, and surgery, have in quite recent times made immense 

 advances towards perfection, and are still moving onward day by 

 day. So certainly and so much is this the case, alike in human 

 and in veterinary practice, that it seems nothing less than 

 strange and well-nigh incredible that there are still some people 

 who are not slow to say they do not believe in medicine, and that 

 those who practise the avocation of healer, whether of men or of 

 animals, are sometimes not doing much real good. 



Now, this is very far indeed from being true, and such state- 

 ments could never be made by those who can realise and 

 appreciate the far-reaching improvements which have been, and 

 are being, made. The fact is, that these sciences, so far from 

 lagging behind the other pursuits of mankind, are holding 

 their own in the very foremost ranks of progress ; and, 

 indeed, the ends to be gained, the results to be achieved, are of 

 the first importance to human health and human happiness. 



Just to give one instance, selected almost at random out of 

 many, we may point to a single quite modern therapeutic appli- 

 ance which is of the utmost value to mankind — we refer to the 

 new local anaesthetic, hydrochlorate of cocaine. We need only 

 remind our readers that by the local use of this drug certain opera- 

 tions are rendered painless, without the person or animal being 

 rendered comatose, a condition of the administration of chloro- 

 form, ether, and nitrous oxide. For operations on the eyes of 

 man, no less than of horses and dogs and other lower animals, 

 this salt is of very great value indeed. Similarly, for the removal 

 of small tumours and other abnormal growths, the use of this 

 new local anaesthetic is of wonderful practical utility, and cannot 

 fail soon to come into very general use. 



This, however, is only one discovery ; and we might write 



