THE FARMEKS' CABIiNET, 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 



Vol. I. 



Pliila<lcipliia, March 1, 1M37. 



IVo. 16. 



For the l''ariiiers' cabinet. 



II o 1 1 o Av n o r n . 



Under the head of " Observer, No 2," in 

 the Farmers' Cabinet, of February 1st, wo 

 find a very interesting article upon the dis- 

 eases of Horned Cattle. Observer labors very 

 ingeniously to show that " the hollow horn 

 (or a disease attended with a wasting of the 

 bony pith of the horn) has no existence in 

 nature." 



The author says he is aware that it is 

 " rank heresy to deny the existence of a thing 

 which almost every body knows to exist" — 

 and without any joke upon the matter, I am 

 inclined to the same opinion; but Observer 

 need not fear that I will persecute him ; I 

 will neither judge him hastily nor with an 

 uncharitable spirit; for I well know how 

 easy it is to be deceived, and how lono- we 

 sometimes hug up old errors and love them 

 better than new trutlis, all of which have 

 been imposed upon us by early education, and 

 afterwards confirmed by prejudice and pride 

 of opinion. 



I have seen so many difficulties rise up in 

 the paih of knowledge ; I have seen that time 

 was sliort, that opportunities of improvement 

 were rare, and that mankind were so often 

 the victims of long cherished delusions, that 

 I have learned to look upon innovations, if 

 not with a degree of deference, at least with 

 1 charitable spirit. But, notwithstanding this 

 kindly feeling towards heresies of every 

 character, I am not disposed to change my 

 opinion with less evidence than what was re- 

 [juired by Thomas of old ; and, therefore, I 

 im not ready to believe that " hollow horn 

 las no existence in nature," without seeing, 

 eeling, and knowing that the fact is so. 



We understand the hollow horn, according 

 Vol, L— Q 



to Dr. VVillich,* to be a disease, which 

 "gradually wastes the internal substance of 

 the horn, commonly called the pith." In op- 

 position to this opinion. Observer says, " such 

 a wasting of the pilli docs not take place. I 

 challenge those who think otherwise to pro- 

 duce the horn." As I think otherwise I shall 

 offer my reasons, and leave them with the 

 public to decide whether they prove the fact 

 otherwise, or not. 



Observer challenges those who oppose him 

 to " produce the horn." I ask him to look at 

 the horn he has described under the head of 

 " Corrupted Horn, Putrid Horn, Rotten Horn. 

 He says, " If the inflammation assumes a more 

 violent form, and extends to the benes, pro- 

 ducing bony ulcerations, or caries, the dis- 

 charge will be darker colored, and highly of- 

 fensive, constituting putrid horn." Here is 

 an admission of all that is necessary. If in- 

 flammation produces "bony ulceration, or 

 caries, the discharge" will of course be the 

 substance which constifutes the inside of the 

 horn. If the " bony substance or pith" be- 

 comes rotten, (which is the definition of ca- 

 ries,) and is discharged, the pith is then out 

 of the horn, and not in it, and consequently 

 the horn is hollow in the sense in which we 

 understand the question. 



Observer, it is true, concludes that this dis- 

 order is the effect of injudicious boring, but 

 he afterwards admits that it is sometimes 

 produced by natural causes. He says '• the 

 inflamed horn, arising from colds and other 

 causes, may terminate in corrupted or putrid 

 horn ; but that it is much more frequently pro- 

 duced by boring." Now, to say a thing ia 

 more frequently produced in a certain way,. 



• Dr. VVillirh, I presume, is the name.— Published ia 

 the Cabinet, Dr. Willick.-Ye». 



