JRush^ on studying the diseases of Animals^ I'm 



er demands upon our gratitude, Her milk, in its simple state, 

 furnishes subsistence to a great part of mankind. Its pro- 

 ducts in cream, butter and cheese, form the most agreeable 

 parts of the aliment, and even of the luxuries of our tables. 

 A pustule upon her udder supplies a matter which when in- 

 troduced into the body defends it for ever from the small- 

 pox, and v.'ithout substituting in its room, a painful or loath- 

 some vicarious disease. Millions in every part of the globe 

 unite with us in expressions of gratitude to heaven for this 

 important contribution to the happiness of the human race. 

 But our obligations to this benefactor of mankind, and to 

 her v/hole species, do not cease with their lives. Their flesh 

 affords us the most agreeable aliment after death. Their 

 tallow and the oil which is interposed between their joints, 

 supply the absence of the sun in candles and lamps, whereby 

 labor and study are profitably extended during a part of 

 the night. Their hair affords a necessary ingredient in the 

 plaister of our houses. Their skins protect our feet and legs 

 in the form of shoes and boots from the injuries of the 

 weather. They furnish likewise coverings for our books and 

 pleasure carriages, and saddles ibr our horses. Their horns 

 supply us with combs, and even their bones are converted 

 when fresh into aliment, and when dry, into a salt of exten- 

 sive use in medicine and in a variety of the arts. 



Sheep occupy the next rank in the list of domestic animals 

 in their claims upon our science. They afford us by their 

 wool a covering irom the inclemeSicy of winter during every 

 year of their lives, and by their deaths they supply us with a 

 delicious aliment in the forms of lamb, and mutton. 



The hog is said like the miser to do good only when he 

 dies. But this is so far from being true that he is dishonor- 

 ed by the comparison. He fattens upon the offals of our 

 kitchens, and periorms the office of a scavenger in cleaning 

 the streets of our cities from putrefying masses of animal 

 and vegetable matters. At his death, he bequeaths us his 



