16 DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



Remember, also, the remark of a celebrated physician 

 of England, whom the faculty attempted to keep down, 

 as he was not rising by rule, but who came up in spite 

 of their influence, and when he had attained eminence, 

 and become a celebrated lecturer, he often told his stu- 

 dents, that when they had pursued a regular course of 

 treatment with a patient, and noted the treatment and 

 his condition from time to time, till he recovered, it was 

 of the greatest importance to consider whether he got 

 well by virtue of the medicine, or in spite of it. This 

 remark shows profound wisdom, and a monument 

 should be built to the memory of the man who made it ; 

 to him who saves life, by wise direction, rather than to 

 him who, as a hero, destroys it. 



Diseases, directly opposite in their nature, are often 

 treated with the same medicine. A quack once said to 

 his patient, who was taking his medicine without amend- 

 ment, "My medicine is good for all diseases." "But," 

 says the patient, " I want a powerful medicine applying 

 directly to my peculiar disease, which is severe and 

 obstinate." He dismissed his medical attendant, pro- 

 cured a simple medicine of a friend, good for that par- 

 ticular disease, and he immediately recovered. This 

 shows the folly of giving medicines at random, or giving 

 general medicines without regard to their quality or the 

 nature of the aisease. The disorder should be well 

 known, and the medicine and treatment particularly 

 adapted to it. 



Most diseases in animals closely resemble those of the 

 human family, and require similar treatment, though with 

 some variation and peculiarities, but not those outra- 

 geous departures from common sense which are often 

 witnessed. 



A horse with pleurisy or inflammation of the lungs, or 

 apoplexy, requires a very different treatment from one 

 with colic or worms. 



There is, everywhere, too great a propensity to resort 

 it once to active treatment and powerful medicines, 

 without proper regard to the disease, its causes, the symp- 

 toms, or the remedy ; forgetting, or perhaps never having 

 learned, that th< re is in nature a restorative power, under 



