26 DADD’S VETERINARY SURGERY AND MEDICINE. 
in reference to some of the exciting causes which in general pro- 
duce those diseases to which the horse, by virtue of his constitu- 
tion, is liable. The following quotation, brief and pointed, will 
be found pertinent: 
“By far the casiest and best mode of curing diseascs of animals 
is to keep the diseases and the cattle separate. With cattle, as 
with ourselves, disease is caused, in most instances, by an excess 
of carefulness or of carelessness. Too much and too rich food is 
as injurious as too little and too poor. Perhaps fewer diseases, 
in proportion to the numbers treated in each way, spring from 
privation than from surfeit. Too little as well as too great 
exposure to extremes of heat and cold has a tendency to create 
disease; in the one case it causes disease, in the other it renders 
man or animal more liable to it. Let a wealthy and a warm- 
hearted man own and take charge of a favorite animal, and the 
chances are that it will be ‘killed with kindness;’ if it is tended, 
in part, by a hireling, the equilibrium may be restored. In our 
experience—no very limited one, by the way—care is more needed 
among cattle than cures; and all the diseases which came under 
our treatment sprang from the want of judicious care. Has a 
cow a cough, has she the hoven, has she the red-water, or the 
puerperal fever? it is from overeare—too much warmth or too 
much feed. Is she mangy, lousy, hide-bound, or affected with 
horn-ail? the chances are that she has been neglected. Of course 
there are very many exceptions to this and to every other general 
rule. But this is our experience. Let few farmers, however, 
feed their animals less than they now do, or give them more airy 
lodgings than they now do, because the greater number of the 
cattle in this country suffer from privation and exposure to the 
inclemencics of the weather rather than from pampering. But 
animals, as well as men, will, with the best care we can bestow 
on them, become sick at times. Our judgment is often at fault 
when our intentions are tne best. Sometimes our back is turned, 
or our eyes are not opened sufficiently wide. At all events, our 
stock will become sick, some of them; and recourse must be had 
to medical remedies,” 
It is usual to classify causes; yet, for all practical purposes, it is 
only necessary for us to know that exciting causes are those from 
which disease most directly springs. For example, suppose that in 
the act of shoeing a horse a nail is driven in a wrong direction, 
