701 
AT THE LONDON FARMERS’ GLUB. 
and give him a better description of food. By this means, and by 
the application of popular remedies which are resorted to in the 
stable, things incident to the disease are got rid of which might 
otherwise have led to fatal results. Nothing of this kind, however, 
is usually done in the case of cattle : the utmost which is thought 
of, when an animal is discovered to be diseased, is to put him under 
proper shelter, and possibly to give him a drench ; he is then left 
to take his chance. It is never ascertained whether or not the 
required effect has been produced — whether the seeds imperceptibly 
sown have been got rid of, or are leading to their ultimate results. 
In the stable the animal is not put to his usual occupation until 
every symptom of disease has been eradicated ; and if we take the 
treatment of the horse on the one hand, when labouring under in- 
cipient disease, and the case of cattle on the other, when that 
disease has actually commenced, can we feel surprised at the one 
being kept in a state of comparative health, while the other suffers 
to such an extent 1 
Mr. Ellman feared that the veterinary art had not reached that 
eminence which would justify the expectation of relief. He had 
called in professional aid with regard to sheep, but had found more 
benefit from taking the advice of his shepherd. No animal is so 
inflammatory as the sheep, and none is less tenacious of life. We 
ought altogether to pin our faith to science, disregarding the prac- 
tical man, the herdsman, or the shepherd. Such persons have seen 
more of animals than we have done, and they have paid close at- 
tention to diseases whenever they have come under their hands. 
Although science may in a great measure assist us, if we were 
entirely to abide by what we hear from scientific men, we should 
certainly be led into errors. 
The Chairman. — The practical man, above all others, in every 
department of life, from the highest to the lowest, is the man for 
whom, in his own peculiar vocation, I entertain the greatest 
degree of respect. But if I am speaking of the treatment of dis- 
ease in an animal, I can no more call the shepherd a practical man 
than I can, in the same sense, call the nurse practical who attends 
the patient on the sick bed. In my opinion, the practical man is 
the man who, having devoted his time and talents to the investi- 
gation of the nature, character, and treatment of disease, has, in the 
exercise of his profession, become practical through the expe- 
rience which he has obtained. I do trust — and I am quite sure 
that neither my friend Mr. Cherry nor my friend Mr. Turner will 
think that I would utter a syllable with the intention of detracting 
from the merits of their profession — but I do trust that the time 
will come when that blot upon their profession, in respect to their 
want of knowledge in the treatment of the diseases of sheep and 
