442 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



If we read the advertisement pages of any agricultural or sporting 

 journal we shall find ample reason to doubt if the technical instruction 

 afforded by university extension schemes does not fall far short of the 

 requirements of the time, since greater fortunes are now amassed by 

 advertisers of quack medicines than was ever the case before in the history 

 of the world. There is a very general popular belief that some herb or 

 herbs exist which will effectually cure any and every disease, if we can but 

 succeed in their discovery and proper application. 



These bad old traditions will take long to break down, and in self- 

 defence, in order to obtain a just fee for his professional skill, the country 

 veterinary surgeon is sometimes compelled to prescribe some harmless stuff 

 for a client who sees value for money only in some tangible form like a big 

 bottle. The owner of a horse with a cough is apt to suppose that its cure 

 can and ought to be effected by a bottle of medicine or some balls if they 

 are "good" for such a purpose; nay, he has been taught to believe it by 

 the cure-alls advertised and the early w r orks on farriery, whose authors, 

 speak of " a certain cure" for this or that disease which they did not them- 

 selves understand, but merely " poured drugs of which they knew little into 

 bodies of which they knew less ". 



It is not generally understood that the same disease may result from 

 a variety of causes, and no panacea can therefore be expected. The 

 conditions under which the patient has been living must be enquired into, 

 the nature of his work, food, water supply, clothing; and a broad view 

 must be taken of the circumstances of the case, and the line of treatment to 

 be pursued will depend on the nature, origin, and stage of the disease. 



The importance of hygienic conditions and good nursing are becoming 

 better understood both by the professional and amateur horse doctor, but 

 the latter, with less knowledge of drugs, has the greater faith in their 

 efficacy. Let it not be supposed that we underestimate the value of drugs 

 when judiciously employed, but that we desire to impress our readers with 

 the fact that drugging is no effectual substitute for rational treatment. 



The cause of a disorder should be sought and removed, and drugs may 

 assist the process in many instances. Time may be gained in facilitating 

 a natural process, pain saved, and even life preserved, which without their 

 aid would have been lost; but the list of specifics can be counted on the 

 fingers of one hand. 



Perhaps no class of medicines are more abused than aperients, the 

 habitual use of which do not cure constipation but induce an artificial need 

 of their repetition, where judicious dieting without drugs would help the 

 body to return to that healthful condition for which it is always striving 

 in spite of improper diet and exposure to unfavourable conditions. The 



