76 



Treat your Brutes like Men. 



Vol. V. 



shall find that he was, by foreg-oing this privi- 

 lege of his rank, providing for an array of 

 nearly three thousand persons, many of whom 

 must otherwise have found it most difficult to 

 obtain subsistence during that trying period. 

 The result of such conduct is twice blessed, 

 both in the means which it employs, and in 

 the end which it attains, in the general im- 

 provement of the country. 



Nothing can be more consonant to nature, 

 nothing more delightful, nothing more bene- 

 ficial to the country or more worthy of any 

 man than the agricultural occupations, which 

 are becoming so fashionable amongst the re- 

 tired classes of the commercial world ; whe- 

 ther such persons seek profit or pleasure, in 

 them they can be found at any time ; and 

 while they are increasing the value of their 

 estates, they are in the midst of health, peace 

 and a series of operations which have now 

 become purely scientific, and have called in 

 to their accomplishment almost every other 

 science and art ; whilst in every age of the 

 world, agricultural pursuits have formed the 

 delights of the greatest nations and the no- 

 blest men. Cicero says, and indeed it seems 

 as though he could never have done with 

 telling us of the pleasure he took in farm- 

 ing, ' I might expatiate on the beauty of ver- 

 dant groves and meadows, on the charming 

 aspects of vineyards and olive-yards — but to 

 say all in one word, there cannot be a more 

 pleasing or a more profitable scene than that 

 of a well-cultivated farm : in my opinion, in- 

 deed, no kind of occupation is more fraught 

 with happiness, not only as the business of 

 husbandry is of singular utility to mankind, 

 but as being attended with its own peculiar 

 pleasures, supplying both the table and the 

 altar with the greatest variety and abun- 

 dance.' " 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Treat your Brutes like Men. 



In the last number of the Cabinet, we closed 

 a short article with the phrase which heads 

 the present one. In that, we wished to re- 

 mind our readers of a few important facts in 

 the management of domestic animals — 1st, 

 that, unless sick, medicine was very rarely 

 required — 2d, that " specifics" ought never 

 to be trusted ; that no one article was always 

 proper, and that " certain cures" were gene- 

 rally any thing, but what they professed to 

 be — 3d, that the same disease, in different 

 stages, required very different remedies — 4th, 

 that the best and most skilful thing a man 

 could sometimes do, was — to do nothing ; and 

 5th, that nature often did a great deal, and 

 was at any time better than an ignorant and 

 reckless prescriber. — These remarks had re- 

 ference more particularly to internal diseases. 



We propose, at this time, to say a few 

 words, in the same general manner, on 



THE TREATMENT OF WOUNDS AND ACCIDENTS 

 IN ANIMALS. 



In the treatment of these cases among 

 men, it is a settled axiom with surgeons, that 

 the simplest treatment founded on correct 

 principles is always the best — and the same 

 holds good with our domestic animals. All 

 the mysterious applications — all the " certain 

 cures" — all the " patent" notions, are only 

 intended by the designing as a cloak for their 

 impositions upon the credulous-and uninform- 

 ed. — For example, let us take a simple wound 

 — a cut, made with a sharp instrument, and 

 turning off a flap of skin and flesh. — " What 

 is good" for such an injury ? One will say, 

 a particular balsam is a certain cure — another, 

 turpentine — a third has a sovereign mixture, 

 and a fourth, a famous salve that never fails ; 

 now, this is all sheer nonsense. What is to 

 be done'! Simply, clean off the wound ; lay 

 down the flap of skin, as nearly as possible in 

 its natural position, and retain it there, keep- 

 ing the part, for a time, perfectly quiet, and 

 nature will do the rest; and, in a common 

 case, no application can hurry the process 

 which must take place, for a complete resto- 

 ration. But a large sore is often seen in a 

 horse — is there no salve, " a certain cure" for 

 this? None. — Mild applications are proper 

 to protect the tender surface from the air and 

 external irritation — and particular ones, to 

 produce particular effects, may occasionally 

 be required — but a peculiar process, called 

 granulation, or the formation of new mate- 

 rial, has to take place, before the part is sound ; 

 and this, let it be recollected, is the work of 

 nature, (too often interrupted by injudicious 

 applications) to complete which requires a 

 certain period of time, under the most favour- 

 able circumstances. 



A bruise, what is if? An injury to a part, 

 often with rupture of small blood-vessels, 

 producing discoloration and liable to be fol- 

 lowed by inflammation. Keep the part at 

 rest, endeavour to reduce the heat (if more 

 than natural), and our old friend, of whom 

 we have spoken so often, nature, will take 

 up what ought not to be there, and all will 

 do well. 



Sprains are fertile sources of deception 

 and imposition by ignorant and unprincipled 

 adventurers. What happens when your ani- 

 mal gets a sprain "? The natural connexions 

 about the joints are stretched, perhaps torn, 

 and the beast is unable to move his limb 

 without pain. If he continues to use it, in- 

 flammation of these ligaments are pretty sure 

 to follow, and it is one of the peculiarities of 

 inflammation of these parts, that when once 

 excited, its course is a very slow one, and 



