DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



23 



Those who consult this work will please bear this 

 subject m mind, and regard its importance in those 

 cases in which light food is recommended ; for more can 

 be done to keep an animal in health, or restore health 

 when he is diseased, by good management, than by- 

 medicines. 



Nature wisely provides that our appetites shall fail 

 when we are sick and the system cannot dispose of food. 

 We should improve upon this hint, and prevent sickness 

 by moderation in all things. On this our health and life 

 depend. And as health depends so much on temper- 

 ance in eating and drinking, so, in case of illness, resto- 

 ration to health depends greatly on abstinence, or light 

 food. Few are aware of its importance ; many who 

 are essentially benefited by it, lose sight of the cause. 



A man, who was sick from high living, consulted a 

 physician, -who put him oh the most rigid, spare diet, as 

 the only means of restoring health. He pursued it 

 awhile ; (suflfering like the famous Sancho Panza, who 

 saw the table groaning beneath rich viands which he 

 dared not taste ;) at length he resolved that his belly, 

 which was his god, should be filled with something bet- 

 ter than gruel and bran, and he nullified the physician's 

 directions, and soon demolished a plate of mutton chops, 

 and washed it down with brandy, and then said that 

 these things cured him of such a disease ; giving the 

 physician no credit for curing him by starvation, allow- 

 ing his system rest, and chance to regain its powers of 

 digestion, so as to dispose of anything that was put 

 into it. 



Another case directly to the point : — A young man 

 was ailing, and it was thought that he was going into a 

 decline. He consulted several physicians, and tried 

 their prescriptions, but in vain ; and mesmerism was 

 tried, with no better success. A friend proposed to 

 undertake his cure, if he would follow his severe direc- 

 tions ; to which he agreed. He was kept on gruel, and 

 only a small allowance of that, as his case was an obsti- 

 natl^one. Under this regimen he recovered, and we 

 saw him some months after, hale and robust, pursuing 

 the sturdy labors of the farm. 



