IN ITS RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. 217 
found appropriate expression in an act of the legislature, which 
interposes the strong arm of the law between the brute and his 
oppressor. 
So far we are in the right direction ; but there are still spots 
in the civilized world where informers enter not, and “Martin’s 
Act” ceases to be in operation—where the most barbarous 
proceedings are tolerated under the name of “doctoring.” We 
could tell of animals’ legs being scored with the “hot iron” for 
a disease which existed only in the imagination of the operator. 
We could name “time and place” of miscalled “surgical opera¬ 
tions,” where hours have been occupied instead of minutes; 
where any device that ignorance could suggest, or cruelty 
execute, has been brought into requisition, with a total con¬ 
tempt for consequences. Bad as is the effect of quackery in 
human medicine, it is at least exempt from much of the bar¬ 
barism that still clings to brute surgery : the man does not live 
who dares tie a fellow creature to the table, and hack at him 
till he finds what he seeks for. But who considers the beast 
under the same conditions'? “It is only a horse,” is a sufficient 
cover for any amount of mal-practice and barbarity. 
We need not multiply instances; “a word to the wise is 
enough cases are not wanting; let us illustrate by reference 
to a few. 
Among cattle there is a commonly occurring affection, con¬ 
sisting mainly in digestive derangement—obstinate constipation 
is a marked symptom : medical assistance is necessary—the 
cowleech arrives—prescriptions, too disgusting to be printed, 
are poured down the animal’s throat. No effect. The sapient 
attendant then concludes, “ the guts are twisted” or tied; the 
patient has the “ gut tie.” Now then commences a series of 
novel manoeuvres, which would be intensely funny if a living 
animal were not the subject of them. 
With a laudable desire to try mild remedies first, a “ live 
eel,” or “small trout,” is transferred from a neighbouring brook 
to the animal’s throat, under the impression that the fish, feeling 
acutely the impropriety of his position, will make desperate 
efforts to thread through eighty yards of tubing, twisted into all 
manner of eccentric shapes, untying the knots as he proceeds. 
In the event of this failing, by no means a remote contingency, 
an operation is deemed requisite ; the animal’s side is cut into, 
the hand introduced, and the knot untied or cut. The cruelty 
and absurdity of treatment are apparent at once, if w’e consider 
the impossibility of discovering knots or ties inside an animal, 
even though they were present, and the still greater difficulty 
of finding the spot among an immense mass of intestine. But 
it may be asked, what does the operator untie I—we answer, 
VOL. XXV. G g 
