THE PRESENT EPIDEMIC AMONG CATTLE, &c. 283 
that epidemic diseases invariably assume a typhoid character, and 
we may treat them as such ; but from the great uncertainty of suc- 
cess from want of a perfect knowledge of their cause or causes, 
hundreds of valuable animals are sacrificed before we arrive at 
any thing like a specific or standard system of treatment, which 
has ever been a subject, if not of contradiction, yet mere specu^ 
lative dissertation. We must first look for the origin. A Coleman 
has immortalized his name by frequent and demonstrative proofs 
of the general source from which springs that deleterious and fatal 
poison which operates on the horse , and glanders is the result. 
When truly established, one animal is capable of propagating the 
same disease to another; and even the human subject claims no 
exemption. 
I have every reason to believe that the origin of the diseases 
termed epidemic are at first, and, perhaps, long confined to a 
narrow space in a particular locality, by which a solitary animal 
or two become affected, and the nature of the disease is of such 
a kind or type that it is capable of being conveyed to another — 
hence it becomes epidemical. 
Some of our modern and eminent physiologists affirm, but 
wrongly, that rabies has its origin from the brutality practised on 
the canine species. The effect produced is nervous irritation, de- 
rangement, and alteration of habit, and in some seasons and lo- 
calities becomes almost epidemical. Now, it cannot be denied 
that we must have a cause before an effect can be produced. 
Some attribute the madness to the influence of a radiant sun ; 
but I cannot learn that rabies is more frequent in hotter climes, 
not even in the torrid zone : there is some natural predisposition 
in the animals, as they are the general propagators and distribu- 
tors of the hideous malady. In my opinion, the cause is a limited 
one ; for we seldom hear of a dog going mad but we are able to 
trace the origin, viz. inoculation. 
To return, however, to the present epidemic among cattle. It 
is of the most fatal kind, and summons every one of the profes- 
sion to his post. It is our duty to investigate, study, and reflect 
on the real nature of the disease, and also to lose no time in making 
our views known to the public. 
I cannot think the present epidemic is in the least connected 
with the previous ones. I have attended a very large stock, the 
property of an extensive farmer, some distance from this place, 
and his cattle escaped the murrain, but they that were then ex- 
empted have become affected with the present epidemic. 
Its first appearance in this country was among some Irish cattle, 
and one or two of my employers purchased some of the infected 
