LECTURE ON THE DISEASES OF CATTLE. 
649 
ultimately, instead of having a simple disease to meet by a simple 
remedy, you have a complicated disease with which it is extremely 
difficult to deal. 
I cannot help remarking here, that those animals which are called 
tender are in reality generally the hardiest ; it is only in appear- 
ance that they are tender. The sheep and cattle, which are called 
tender, never yield to a slight attack : when they yield at all, it is 
only to a disease which would in the state of nature inevitably 
produce death; a simple attack would be thrown off by nature 
itself. I must observe, that you may detect the derangement of 
health quite as soon in sheep with their woolly coat as in the most 
highly-fed ox or cow. 
The next consideration has reference to food, the nature of which 
has a very close connexion with disease. How is food to be given! 
Is it to be given wet or dry, in large or in small quantities ! What 
is to be its character ! These are essential points in an inquiry 
concerning the general state or thriftiness of an animal, and in in- 
vestigating the disease on a large scale it is imperative that we 
should include them. When an animal is ill, we should ask — 
What is the cause of this ! Possibly it may be confined to one 
single animal ; but in a matter of this kind it is desirable, at all 
events, to remember that, by ascertaining the cause, we shall be 
placed in a position to put an end to the evil. This remark applies 
to horses, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry, and all other animals. 
Thep in our buildings, as regards air and ventilation, there is a 
lamentable deficiency in our general farming. With very few 
exceptions, the cow-shed and the pig-stye are a mass of filth, very 
crowded, and wholly inefficient for the purposes intended. Our 
buildings have not kept pace with the improvements in other 
respects. Not long since I was in the stable of Mr. Trotter, the 
late member for West Surrey, near Epsom — as fine a stable as 
there could well be, and exactly suited for the purpose. 
There is a point connected with ventilation which ought to be 
noticed. The agriculturists have unconsciously been pursuing a 
very beneficial course by the use of disinfecting materials, such as 
gypsum, laid down under stalls and similar places. This was 
done originally for the purpose of getting a larger amount of ma- 
nure. The gypsum decomposes the ammonia produced by the 
urine. Besides this, there is another matter connected with ma- 
nuring. The dung is quite as bad as the urine in its effects. 
There is a combination of these two things plastered on the floors, 
.accumulated on the walls, and generated in every part ; and this 
goes on, day after day, until the whole place becomes a sink of 
filth. Very little was done on this point till a recent period, if we 
except the result produced unconsciously by the cause which I 
VOL. XX. 4 R 
