AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 
141 
the ignorance and obstinacy of the menial, and the ignorance 
and supineness of the owner. 
Are there no treatises on the diseases of cattle? No; not one of 
authority, except the short notices of my friend, Mr. Blaine; because 
there has hitherto been no school (I except with much satisfac¬ 
tion Mr. Dick’s excellent establishment at Edinburgh, in which 
the diseases of all domestic animals are considered and taught: 
the Highland Society has done itself much credit by establish¬ 
ing and patronising his school, and has set a laudable example 
to other societies: I likewise except the newly-established profes¬ 
sorship of veterinary medicine and surgery at Glasgow; and 1 
exult in that exception); I say there has been yet no school in 
which the veterinary art was taught in all its branches. There 
are no treatises to be depended upon, because there has been no 
school; and our veterinary surgeons have not had sufficient cou¬ 
rage to write on subjects in which they w ere not systematically in¬ 
structed, and their imperfect know ledge of w hich they have slow ly 
and painfully derived from their ow r n experience and practice. 
There are no medical books which profess to treat on these 
matters; but there are books by druggists, recommending, of 
course, plenty of their ow n commodities. I will give you one or 
two extracts, and you shall judge of their value; and those ex¬ 
tracts principally taken from a very excellent writer on the general 
treatment of cattle. Mr. Know Ison explains the nature of red- 
water as an obstruction of the gall, “ not only in the pipes that 
go into the intestines, but also in the pipes that lead through the 
kidneys into the bladder;” and caused sometimes by “bad 
water, for when they (the cattle) come to good, they take too 
freely of it, which overloads the bow els, and forces them against 
the midriff, bringing' too much w eight in the vessels, which causes 
them to break:” and Mr. Parkinson recommends, as a frequent 
cure for this complaint, “ a frog w ith pig’s dung;” and as an in¬ 
fallible one, “ tw o or three handfuls of stinging-nettles boiled, and 
to the liquor added a pint of common salt, put into a quart bottle 
filled with chamberlye, and shaken well:” also “the sod on 
which an ox w ith foul in the foot had trodden,turned sward-side 
downward, or hung in the hedge in that position,” as a cure for 
that complaint; and “a green willow twig, twisted and put 
round the neck of a sheep, as a cure for the green skit. 
Agricultural property to the amount of thirteen millions of 
money is annually lost. I may, then, say, that these lectures, 
with all their imperfections, cannot fail of being interesting and 
valuable. * ' ’ 
Do I profess to be able to unfold effectual remedies for many 
of these pests of our domestic quadrupeds? Not so. Some 
little light I may possibly be able to throw on the subject. At 
