0:j= Publication Office No. 45 JVortb Sixtli street. 



THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 

 Vol. 11.— No. 1.] Philadclpliia, Aug. 1, 1837. [Wliole Wo, 25. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Observer— No. 9. 



TAIL EVIL. 



It frequently happens, that the most erro- 

 neous opinions spread to an almost universal 

 extent, and assume the sanctimonious garb of 

 established truths. This was exemplified in 

 the popular opinion respecting hollow horn. 

 An instance, not less remarkable, is to be 

 found in the common opinion, among the 

 people, of the tail evil or tail slip. 



The name is intended to express a wasting 

 of the extremity of the bone of the tail — 

 whereby, a portion of that member becomes 

 soft and flexible, or even hollow, as many 

 express it. In our country, the tail ill is 

 very commonly associated with hollow horn, 

 and believed to constitute one of its charac- 

 teristic symptoms. In Europe, where hollow 

 horn does not exist, the tail slip is made the 

 concomitant of a variety of other diseases 

 among cattle. 



The wide spread prevalence of an opinion, 

 is not sufficient evidence of its correctness 

 The general belief in the existence of fail 

 evil, does not prove that it really has an ex- 

 istence. It is alm.ost a century since twelve 

 cows, which died in Saxony of supposed mur- 

 rain, were dissected by the celebrated Leiber 

 kuhn, who " examined, and divided the tail 

 m various parts, and found it in its natural 

 state." 



Youatt, in his recent work on British cat- 

 tle, when treating of palsy, says, " in many 

 parts of the kingdom, this complaint is traced 

 to a most ridiculous cause. The original evil 

 is said to be in the tail — and all maladies of 

 this kind, involving the partial or total loss of 

 motion of the hind limbs of the animal, are 

 classed under the name of tail-ill, or tail- 



Cab.— Vol. II.— No. I. 1 



slip.'' " The farmer, and the cow-leech, be- 

 lieve that the mischief passes along the cow's 

 tail, to the back, and that it is on account of 

 something wrong in the tail, that she loses 

 the use of her legs. And, then, some set to 

 work and cut the cow's tail off, while others, 

 less cruel, or more scientific, make an in- 

 cision in the under surface and allow the 

 wound to bleed freely, and then fill it up 

 with a mixture of tar and salt, and we know 

 not what. In some parts of the country the 

 practitioner is not content with this treat- 

 ment, but, supposing there is witchcraft in 

 the business, he has recourse to some charm, 

 in addition to the cutting and dressing. This 

 charm consists in binding a small piece of the 

 rowan tree on the extremity of the tail, and 

 making a i, 'c ca< pass thret tin round the 

 cow's body, o r her back an. faer belly, 



which, (if it nappens to b( ange cat, 



which is often the case, fror .ecessity of 



the colou, '^eing black) so er (es the animal, 

 that she ws, and scr; vith all the 



fury to which she is so ■ cited, until 



she escapes from the banc le necroman- 



cers, leaving them convinci .at the devil 

 has got into the cat." — pp. hvl — 2. 



I have never examined a great many tails, 

 in quest of the tail evil, but, in every in- 

 stance, have found them, as Leiberkuhn did, 

 in a " natural state." To me it seems just 

 as consistent with reason and analogy, to be- 

 lieve that the cow is affected with witchcraft, 

 as with the tail evil — and the application of the 

 black cat, is about as scientific as that of the 

 tar and salt — with this difference, however, 

 that in many diseases, the bleeding from the 

 wound, and the acid substances with which it 

 is filled, may produce a salutary effect on 

 distant organs, in spite of the wrong philc^o- 

 I phy by which they were directed. 



