XXVIII. 
in most instances, simply means that the animals are suffering one and all, 
from the effects of certain neglected causes of disease. When these and 
the ordinary laws of health are known and attended to, disease on the farms 
and in the stables may be expected to diminish in the proportion of 60 per 
cent. at least. Prevention is better than cure; and, the causes of disease 
being comparatively few and simple, time and money spent with the view of 
obviating them, is very well invested. Diseases are too frequently brought 
about by errrors in dieting, and in the amount of work done, which may be 
either too great or too small. Age, cold, damp, and wet are often productive 
of disorders. Poisoning is still not stamped out. Injuries due to accidents 
- or to carelessness frequently bring about severe wound’, and many kinds of 
lameness. There are also many minor causes also, such as worms, tumours, 
external and internal parasites. It will be’seen at gnce, that many of these 
fruitful causes might be obviated. There is no doubt that those which are 
preventible are diminishing, in direct proportion as the knowledge of hygiene 
and science increases among the rural and urban populace. Errors in 
dieting are still common; mistakes of this nature being especially made in 
the feeding of heavy draught horses. The serious disorders caused by 
exposure to damp, cold, and draughts are diminishing. More care is taken 
with regard to proper modes of ventilation, and unnecessary exposure is 
avoided. Many horses are still poisoned by the ill-advised administration of. 
medicines bythe ignorant ; but it is very probable that, as veterinary science 
has made such a determined and successful advance in the last few years, 
wholesale quackery will probably soon be a thing of the past. 
Congenital defects might often be obviated by the exercise of greater 
care in the selection of animals used for breeding. Injuries and many causes 
of lameness might also often be avoided. Tumours to some extent probably 
depend on inherited tendency, and therefore care in breeding is highly 
necessary. Finally, many specific fevers might doubtless be lessened by 
greater attention to the principles of hygiene. For instance, there is no 
doubt that anthrax, which, as we have said, is liable to affect almost all 
animals, depends on bad drainage, at least to the extent that animals which 
are exposed to the effects of insufficient and faulty drainage, are more likely 
to go down with this disease than animals more favourably situated. 
Similarly too, with sheep-rot, and other diseases of sheep, sometimes a 
whole flock of sheep will contract a serious affection of the lungs. When this 
happens, it is often the case, that they have been exposed in bad weather to 
the noxious vapours of badly-drained lands, reeking with decaying vegetable 
matter. What else could be expected? 
We have mentioned some aspects of recent progress. Let us turn now 
to another, which is also of the greatest interest and value. 
In the field of Philosophy, the firm establishment of the Evolution Theory 
as a fundamental basis of thought, is of the highest importance. It is only 
in comparatively recent times, that the Law of Causation, which had been 
already for some time more or less completely recognised in the less 
- complex of the phenomena around us, was also applied, principally as a 
