378 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OP 



an agent to man, evidences both the wisdom and design of 

 Him who, having made all things, pronounced them * very- 

 good.' On all the ruminata, the influence of this agent (salt) 

 is marked ; nor are the carnivora less benefited by it. In 

 fact, it appears to be the natural stimulus to the digestive or- 

 gans of all animals.'* Mr. Morton's opinion is worth moie 

 than that of a hundred speculators, ashamed to sign their own 

 name, but who screen themselves under initials. There exists 

 no analogy, as the writer would have us believe, between a 

 natural stimulus and a manufactured one ; the former induces 

 no subsequent depression of vitality, but preserves its identity; 

 the converse is the case in the use of the latter. 



Mr. Youatt, whose opinion is also entitled to the greatest 

 respect, states that " there is no remedy for the rot in sheep, 

 that is of the slightest avail, in which salt is not the principal 

 agent." 



Animals that are permitted to roam in the salt marshes are 

 generally the most healthy ; they consume a large amount of 

 saline material. The antiseptic properties of salt are too well 

 known and appreciated by our husbandmen ever to be disre- 

 garded ; and the farmer might as well think of dispensing with 

 food altogether, as to think of failing to season fodder with 

 salt. No animal can long exist without it ; in the stomach it 

 operates favorably, on the liver it has a physiological action, 

 and it also prevents the food from running into fermentation. 



The idea of salt being a " destructive poison," is so very 

 absurd that it does not seem to require refutation ; and it is 

 only in consequence of finding such matters occupying the 

 pages of a respectable journal, that I have been induced to 

 notice them. 



