248 
ON EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 
Another empiric added a quart of vinegar to ten quarts of 
barley-water. A quart of this harmless mixture was ordered to 
be given every two hours. This was certainly an improvement 
on the prescription of the Viscount, but both of them would be 
perfectly useless. They were much of the same character with 
the six grains of emetic tartar ordered for each beast in the epi- 
zootic of 1757 by Surgeon Chaignebrun — or the theriaca of Dr. 
Dufot — or the nitre and lily of the valley of Hartman. These 
medicines must be truly ridiculous and powerless when given 
in such minute doses. If a cure is ever effected apparently by 
these nostrums, it must in reality be accomplished by the efforts 
of nature. 
I should with more hope of success have recourse to the quinine ; 
but in what dose should it be administered ? Twenty times as 
much as is given to the human being. Half a drachm or a drachm 
should be administered twice in the day, and its efficacy assisted 
by those useful adjuncts gentian and ginger. Some have recom- 
mended the chestnut, the willow, the tamarind, and the gentian ; 
but, with the exception of the last, they are comparatively worth- 
less, and the gentian is a mere adjuvant to the quinine. 
After all, the remedy for a disease does not consist in the ad- 
ministration of any particular drug, but in the general mode of 
treatment. This must be directed by a person of real talent and 
skill, who can detect every change, and avail himself of every 
indication. There never will exist a sufficient number of veteri- 
nary surgeons thus to treat methodically and carefully one of these 
contagions, comine; upon us like a vast and rapid inundation, and 
spreading itself suddenly over whole districts. When an expanse 
of country is infected — when every village and every stable is 
filled with patients, where shall be found sufficient power to 
grapple with the evil 1 The veterinary surgeon hastens through 
the infected villages and hamlets. As he pursues his rapid 
course, he prescribes the medicine that is to be given and the 
course that is to be pursued, and on he hurries to other pa- 
tients. The owner of the diseased cattle — does he faithfully obey 
the directions that have been given, or does he clumsily blunder 
through them ; or does he employ them not merely on the case 
in hand, but on many other ailments, real or suspected, of other 
animals, for when the epizootic rages, every little illness is sup- 
posed to be connected with it, or caused by it. Is the same 
specific applied to founder or to apoplexy ; and, failing with re- 
gard to them, does the owner immediately apply to “ the cunning 
man V’ 
The public authorities interfere. Are not they endeavour- 
ing to repress a contagion the controul of which is beyond their 
