358 CUKABILITY AND TREATMENT OF ANIMAL INSANITY. 



should be afforded as much amusement as possible ' by hang- 

 ing its cage where it sees people passing, and hears plenty of 

 noise and bustle.' She advises also change of air and scene ; 

 for instance, the use of a new cage in a strange room. 

 These sensible recommendations, the principle of which is 

 obviously directed in the first place, towards the psychical 

 condition of the patient, acknowledge the great importance 

 of variety, change, novelty, amusement; the necessity of 

 breaking up monotony or sameness of life, and of gratify- 

 ing the natural love of society, of their own species as well 

 as of man. 



Change of treatment including change of the person who 

 treats is frequently desirable, at least as an experiment ; 

 for instance, in the case of the grooms of horses where harsh- 

 ness or bad usage is suspected. The results are sometimes 

 as important as they are remarkable, as regards the corre- 

 sponding change of character and habits in the animal. So 

 simple an expedient is often sufficient to bring about a 

 radical reform of what were supposed to be ineradicable vices : 

 to convert a dangerous and useless animal into a valuable 

 and useful one. The value of even a change of dress, in the 

 attendant upon a shying horse, is remarked upon by Pier- 

 quin. In such cases, where the animal associates a parti- 

 cular dress with a particular person, and both dress and person 

 with well- remembered cruelties ; or where the mere change 

 of dress causes the unobservant animal to mistake a groom's 

 identity, this difference in apparel may make a wonderful 

 difference in an animal's temper and tractability. 



An immense amount of mischief is done to horses by the 

 irrational, erroneous, usually secret treatment of grooms, 

 who are not necessarily cruel, who may not dream of in- 

 flicting cruelty, but who are, nevertheless, possessed of the 

 idea, as so many schoolmasters are, that corporal punish- 

 ment is the proper corrective of bad habits of all kinds ; 

 and who, moreover, frequently themselves lazy, tipsy and 

 irascible, inflict, sometimes systematically and for long 

 periods, punishment that is unmerited, indiscriminate, in- 

 ordinately severe. The result of such treatment is too apt 

 to be a thorough upset of the nervous system of the poor 



