218 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 
nothing, because the probabilities are that nothing is tied. 
A man ignorant enough to attempt the treatment would be 
cunning enough to conceal any result which opposed his 
assertion. He says, he has untied the knot; who can say he 
has not, if the patient recover? His fame spreads: if it die, no 
knot is found; consequently he must have spoken truly. 
Another illustration offers:—An ox is left at night apparently 
in health; the following morning he is discovered lying down in 
his shed, and incapable of rising, suffering indeed from a form 
of paralysis. The farrier is called in, and commences his ex¬ 
amination: the tail appears to be an object of especial solicitude; 
—a few inches before its termination a soft portion is dis¬ 
covered , then, again, a hard knob, from whence springs a tuft 
of hair. Here is the secret of the disease; the patient is the 
victim of “tail worm” or “tail slip;” “the softening of that part 
takes the strength out of the back bone, and prevents the animal 
rising —such is the opinion offered. 
From so elevated a view of the nature of the affection we 
should expect an equally enlightened system of treatment—nor 
are we disappointed : the offending “ soft portion of the tail” is 
cut into with a knife, the incision being filled with a mixture of 
“tar and salt,” pepper, or any thing which has the property of 
stimulating the part with which it comes in contact. So brilliant 
is the effect of this treatment, that the animal has been known to 
rise immediately: true, there have not been wanting sceptics to 
assert that “running a hot wire into the nose,” or the per¬ 
formance of any other mild operation in a part remote from the 
seat of the affection, has been equally successful; but their 
sarcasms have met the contempt they deserved. However, in 
a spirit of candour let us examine the matter. As the men who 
do these things are “ practical,” it is not too much to expect 
they know from observation the healthy state of the parts; but, 
strange to say, the unfortunate “ soft portion” is a characteristic 
of every ox’s tail that has yet been examined. From the last 
bone of the organ is continued a piece of gristle, which ter¬ 
minates in a rounded knot, acting precisely as a knot in the 
thong of a whip, rendering the part more available for the 
purpose of beating off offending insects. It is startling, but 
notwithstanding true, that men who have spent their lives 
among cattle should remain in ignorance of so simple a cir¬ 
cumstance, and treat as a disease what is, in reality, a beautiful 
provision for an important end. 
To go on:—we have in the horse a disease as a consequence 
of fever, known as lampas ; a little swelling of the gum at the 
roof of the mouth, something akin to a gum-boil in ourselves, 
requiring the same treatment; but the animal's considerate 
