682 
OUR JOURNAL. 
Again, strangles in horses, an essayist recently said, “this 
disease is considered by some to be not contagious, but for 
my part, I think it is.” A number of facts given by an 
experimenter had been quoted by him, but against them only 
thoughts were advanced, and the judgment was declared final, 
although by ipse dixit. Young inexperienced men, making 
a start in life, and hearing such statements — it may be from 
the mouth of the practitioner with whom they are articled — 
accept and swear by them ever afterwards. 
On the subject of contagious maladies our opinions are not 
at all in unison. The writer was called a short time ago by 
a large agriculturist to pronounce upon the nature of disease 
among a valuable herd of cattle. The owner had been 
informed he had to deal with epizootic pleuro-pneumonia and 
was much alarmed. Four affected animals were put under 
treatment and recovered without the disease spreading any 
farther, or the use of disinfectants of any kind. In an action 
for damages sustained by a farmer, it was said, by the con- 
veyance of contagion from an adjoining farm, a witness gave 
the particulars of cases of sporadic pleuro-pneumonia, con- 
scientiously believing he had treated the contagious form ; 
and three others stated in the witness box that in their belief 
contagion could remain dormant for three months and even 
longer, and preserve all its fatal properties, but when asked 
by counsel could give no proof in evidence. Many cases of a 
catarrhal nature were condemned on farms during the pre- 
valence of cattle plague as the disease itself ; yet the malady 
did not spread beyond the affected single animal in a herd. 
In our opinions on the questions of soundness, we are very 
much at variance ; one statement is made, we believe 
earnestly and conscientiously, and the practitioner following 
swears to the exact contrary. Can it be possible that both 
are right? Is not such a result inevitable upon defective 
observation in some point or other, and probably a desire or 
determination to carry a point by the weight of opinion 
merely? As two opposite states cannot exist at the same 
time, we may conclude one of the opinions is decidedly 
wrong, and when given under some circumstances that we 
could name, we should have no difficulty in being positive 
upon the matter. 
These remarks are prompted by no cynical spirit, but with 
a desire to point out errors which can be discovered and 
avoided. As we have to deplore the paucity of writers, we 
have also to regret the fewness of close observers ; and this 
may be a fault of education, in which the student has had 
too little of a thorough practical training among animals 
