THE VETERINARY ART IN INDIA. 
169 
at least, an epizootic character. He has a little wandered from his 
subject, and we have gone with him ; but we could not resist the 
temptation of seeing what account the best veterinary surgeon of 
former days gave of the principal diseases to which the horse, 
and occasionally other domesticated animals, was subject. Per- 
haps, in the divisions which he has made, he has not sufficiently 
distinguished the chronic diseases from the acute ; and he has 
strangely passed over the different varieties of fever which mingle 
with, and form the essence of, all other diseases. He has con- 
trived, however, to give us a bird’s-eye view, and not a very in- 
correct one, of our art, as it existed 1500 years ago. 
As to the curative means, and the precautions which are to be 
taken with respect to these diseases, and all that are contagious, 
our author recommends the same as were practised by Colu- 
mella, and principally setons and the actual cautery. He insists 
more than Columella on the danger of the sick and the diseased 
occupying the same place, and recommends change of air and 
pasture. Every danger and every evil results from the negli- 
gence of the master of the farm, and not, as many are accustomed 
to think, from any foreign or superhuman agency. 
In his treatment of sick animals he places much dependence on 
the Scolymus, or Golden Thistle, made into drinks or balls, and 
given with sulphur, origanum, and coriander. 
THE VETERINARY ART IN INDIA. 
By J. Grellier, Esq., M.R.C.S. 
[Continued from page 111.] 
SECTION I. 
OF GENERAL DISEASES. 
In order to elucidate this subject, I shall endeavour to give a 
short account of the present prevailing opinion relative to general 
causes. This will develop a system which must be admired for 
its simplicity, founded on a collection of simple facts and accu- 
rate observations of the progress of nature, by which the study 
of physic is now rendered pleasant and truly useful ; and as 
these principles -exist in every living system, and are also supposed 
to pervade the whole vegetable world, they may perhaps be inte- 
resting to those who have never made this branch of natural phi- 
losophy their study. 
Every muscle in the body is composed of innumerable fibres. 
These fibres have the power of attracting from the blood its 
irritable property, by which they become saturated with what is 
termed irritability. This principle is the property of life ; but to 
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