372 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I. 



horn ; or in other words, that a horn may be 

 hollow, and not hollow at the same time. But 

 it must be obvious to every unprejudiced 

 OBSERVER, that any disease, no matter wiiat, 

 which produces "corrupted horn, putrid horn, 

 rotten horn," and eventually discharges the 

 bone out of the horn, must leave an empty 

 horn, and consequently a Jiollow horn, in t^e 

 simple sense of the term. 



1 know ot" no stronger proof of the exist- 

 ance of hollow horn than the absence of the 

 internal structure; and i assure Observer that 

 when death is produced by such violent dis- 

 eases as he has told us the horn is subject to, 

 it will be no consolation to the farmer to know 

 that a horn made hollow by ordinary caries, 

 is not the hoi Tow horn according to the 

 " generic sense." 



As I have given Observer information that 

 has enabled him to find a hollow horn for 

 himself, I feel pretty much out of danger 

 from his challenge, and hope that he will not 

 expect me to continue the discussion upon 

 the mere existence, or non-existence of the 

 hollow horn. The fact is now admitted, 

 " that hollow horn exists;" that the bony part 

 of the pith wastes away by a disease to which 

 "all bones are liable." But as I am now in 

 the way of cutting and spliting up old horns, 

 I am willing to open a discussion upon the 

 pithy part of the bone. 



1 assume this position, that if there is a dis- 

 ease that wastes away the bony part of the 

 pith, a disease of a less virulent character 

 will waste away the pithy part of the bone. 

 Our readers will here see the distinction. 

 The pith of the horn is altogether a spongy 

 bone; there is no part of it but what is soft, 

 when compared with some other bones ; but 

 some parts of tiiis pith are much softer than 

 other parts, and it is those soft and more 

 spongy parts that I now propose to examine. 

 I have, since my last essay, dissected a num- 

 ber of piths from horns of cattle slaughtered 

 for the market, by which I am enabled to 

 make comparisons between the piths of dis- 

 eased cattle and the piths from cattle in good 

 health. The result of those examinationshave 

 not as yet furnished ocular proof of the pith 

 wasting away ; but there are some facts that 

 leave the conjecture entirely upon that side. 

 These facts 1 intend to arrange for a future 

 number of tlie Cabinet, and leave the conclu- 

 sion to the public. In the mean time I hope 

 to hold fast to my cloak, and to be indulged in 

 the orthodox belief of the wasting of tlic pith, 

 according to Dr. Tofts, who says in the 1st 

 vol. of the Memoirs of the American Acade- 

 my, "that this spongy bone is sometimes par- 

 tially, and sometimes wholly consumed." 



I stated in my former essay, that upon ex- 

 amination, 1 found a number of piths decayed 

 and rotten toward the point, which fact I con- 



cluded, favored the opinion of piths being 

 more liable to disease than any other bone. 

 Observer says it was "animal matter, not the 

 bone which he found rotten." Now there is 

 no possible means by which Observer could 

 know that the statement here made is true; 

 he never .saw the piths which I have de- 

 scribed ; he knows nothing of them, only by 

 reasoning from other piths which he has seen ; 

 yet he rounds off a paragraph in as positive 

 a manner as if he was speaking of a matter 

 of fact. I examined the piths or bones, and 

 knew them to be rotten, or I should not have 

 made the statement. 



In my last essay, I suggested to Observer 

 what I thought would be an improvement in 

 his method of controversy ; but he seems to 

 !iave profited little by the hint. This positive 

 manner might be useful in a political contest, 

 where the merits of a cause depend upon its 

 success; or in a polemical controversy, where 

 the dictum of authority supersedes the neces- 

 sity of reason ; but in the arts and sciences, in 

 the investigation of facts that are to unfold 

 new truths and useful discoveries to mankind ; 

 where the paths of knowledge are untrodden 

 and every step is in darkness; the mind re- 

 volts at a gratuitous parade of information 

 where all are equally ignorant, all inquirers, 

 all learners. 



Observer says he " pleads guilty of the 

 folly of pretending to a knowledge of things." 

 I have charged him with no such folly, it was 

 the folly of pretending to a knowledge of the 

 ABSENCE of things, and he acknowledges him- 

 self justly charged with "that excess of infor- 

 mation which denies the existence of hollow 

 horn." If Observer would say that he doubts 

 the existence of hollow horn, he would speak 

 rationally ; but to deny the existence of hol- 

 low horn, or of any thing else, is irrational 

 and nothing short of folly ; it is a folly be- 

 cause the non-existence of a thing cannot be 

 proved, and what cannot be proved, must 

 j always remain a matter of doubt, and matters 

 of doubt are not subjects to which we can 

 neither afiirm or deny. Again, Observer 

 says " it is dangerous to persist in supporting 

 an opinion without proof." So far from it 

 being dangerous to support opinions in the 

 absence of proof, it is the only time that mere 

 opinions can -be properly supported. 



Theories, opinions, and belief range under 

 the head of probabilities; in this state they 

 are fit subjects for investigation, for inquiry, 

 for analogy, and for rational conclusion; but 

 the moment proof is o'ltained, they cease to 

 be matters of opinion, they are then know- 

 ledge; for instance, the most simple man 

 when caught in a shower, never says he be- 

 lieves it rains, or that it is his opinion that it 

 rains, but he speaks of it as a matter of fact, 

 because he knows it. 



