LECTURE ON THE DISEASES OF CATTLE. 
647 
not state anything but what is already known ; but in the collect- 
ing together of instances, in the drawing of inferences from known 
facts, and in endeavouring to reduce the isolated knowledge, which 
now exists so plentifully, into something like a system or science, 
I consider that we shall be advancing, in some degree, in the miti- 
gation of a prevalent evil. In the first place, we find that an ani- 
mal will not bear wet and cold without injury ; and if he be exposed 
to such debilitating influences, a larger amount of food will be re- 
quired, involving, I need not tell you, a positive loss. Now, we 
cannot house all the animals whose numbers I have just given; 
but we may house a portion of them ; we may select a few from 
the rest, put them into a hovel or a sheltered yard, nurse them at 
the commencement of an illness, and by such means secure that 
instead of ailing for weeks they shall only be ill for days. Take 
the case of swine. You frequently find that a hog, when fattening, 
turns sick and refuses to take his food. Remove the exciting cause, 
over-repletion, and you will find him fattening more quickly, and 
in a better way than he did before. The same remark will apply 
to sheep and to animals of every kind. Wherever you find land 
wet, you find disease prevalent. In like manner you find disease 
prevalent where the homesteads are bad, sinking into a hole; 
where the stables and other buildings are low ; where the cow- 
stalls are dirty, and there are no means of removing the excrements 
and urine. All these are points connected with hygiene, falling 
under the head of general management, and coming within the 
scope and compass of every one. 
Instead of vainly lamenting an illness, we should all of us en- 
deavour to remove the cause. Often when there is an inveterate 
scour, it will be found, on examination, that it arises from a filthy 
stall, having that sour, unwholesome smell, which I need not further 
attempt to describe. Remove this, leave the animals merely to 
nature, and they will, perhaps, rapidly recover. Swine, which are, 
I know, considered by some to thrive best in filth; wash them, 
give them clean straw, attend to their condition, and you will find 
them thrive far more than animals which are destitute of these ad- 
vantages. Again, take milch cows, give these animals clean beds, 
remove the dung from their straw, comb their coats, nay, even 
clothe their bodies, and then you will find that the vital heat, 
instead of being wasted, is collected and laid by in the form of 
fat or richer milk. By such means we effect two objects : we 
produce a greater amount of fat on the animal, and we economise 
the consumption of food from whence that fat is made. 
The next consideration which comes before us has reference to 
the various functions of an animal, and to the question how far 
those functions are influenced by external causes. There is a pre- 
