64 RUIN. 



plague, that ravaged my stables, and 

 caused, in the course of a few months, 

 the loss of 120 horses, the greater part 

 of them young and valuable animals ; 

 and this, added to my other losses 

 on the farm, was enough, comparatively 

 speaking, " to break a royal merchant 

 down." Truly might I quote from 

 that beautiful poem some of us were 

 taught to lisp in our childhood 



"My cattle died, and blighted was my corn." 



When I look back to this sad calamity 

 that accomplished the ruin from which 

 I never recovered, and that altogether 

 led to the change in my position that 

 afterwards followed, I am led to ask, 

 How it is that little or no advance or 

 improvement has been made in the ve- 

 terinary art? While we read of disco- 

 veries in other sciences, some of which 

 are made patent to our senses, we find 



