There is no period in the history of the United States when our domestic
animals have ranked so high as at the present time; yet there is no
subject on which there is such a lamentable want of knowledge as the
proper treatment of their diseases.
Governor Briggs, in a recent letter to the author, says, "You have my
thanks, and, in my opinion, are entitled to the thanks of the community,
for entering upon this important work. While the subject has engaged the
attention of scientific men in other countries, it has been too long
neglected in our own. Cruelty and ignorance have marked our treatment to
diseased animals. Ignorant himself both of the disease and the remedy,
the owner has been in the habit of administering the popular remedy of
every neighbor who had no better powers of knowing what should be done
than himself, until the poor animal, if the disease would not have
proved fatal, is left alone, until death, with a friendly hand, puts a
period to his sufferings: he is, however, often destroyed by the amount
or destructive character of the remedies, or else by the cruel mode of
administering them. I am persuaded that the community will approve of
your exertions, and find it to their interest to support and sustain
your system."
The author has labored for several years to substitute a safer and a
more efficient system of medication in the treatment of diseased
animals, and at the same time to point out to the American people the
great benefits they will derive from the diffusion of veterinary
education.
That many thousands of our most valuable cattle die under the treatment,
which consists of little else than blood-letting, purging, and
blistering, no one will deny; and these dangerous and destructive agents
are frequently administered by men who are totally unacquainted with the
nature of the agents they prescribe. But a better day is dawning;
veterinary information is loudly called for--demanded; and the farmers
will have it; _but it must be a safer and a more efficient system than
that heretofore practised_.
The object of the veterinary art is not only congenial with human
medicine, but the very same paths that lead to a knowledge of the
diseases of man lead also to a knowledge of those of brutes.
Our domestic animals deserve consideration at our hands. We have tried
all manner of experiments on them for the benefit of science; and
science and scientific men should do something to repay the debt, by
alleviating their sufferings and improving their condition. We are told
that physicians of all ages have applied themselves to the dissection of
animals, and that it was by analogy that those of Greece and Rome judged
of the structure of the human body. For example, the Greeks and Arabians
confined themselves to the dissection of apes and other quadrupeds.
Galen has given us the anatomy of the ape for that of man; and it is
clear that his dissections were restricted to brutes, when he says, that
"if learned physicians have been guilty of gross errors, it is because
they neglected to dissect animals." We advocate the establishment of
veterinary schools, and the cultivation of our reformed system of
veterinary medicine, on the broad principles of humanity. These poor
animals are as susceptible to pain and suffering as we are. Has not the
Almighty given us dominion over them, and placed them under our
protection? Have we done our duty by them? Can we render a good account
of our stewardship?
In almost every department of science the spirit of inquiry is abroad,
investigation is active; yet, in this department, every thing is left to
chance and ignorance. Men of all professions find it for their interest
to protect property. The merchant, previous to sending his vessel on a
voyage to a distant port, seeks out a skilful navigator to pilot that
vessel into her desired haven with safety. He protects his property. We
protect our property against the ravages of fire by insurance--we defend
our houses from the lightning by conducting that fluid down the sides of
the building into the earth. And shall we not protect our animals? Is
not property invested in live stock as valuable, in proportion, as that
invested in real estate? Can we permit live stock to degenerate and die
prematurely from a want of knowledge of the fundamental laws of their
being? Can we look on and see their heart's blood drawn from them--their
flesh setoned, burned, and blistered--simply because it was the
misguided custom of our ancestors?
We appeal to the American people at large. They have great encouragement
to educate young men in this important branch of study; for the
beneficial results will be, that the diseases of all classes of domestic
animals will be better understood, and the great losses which this
country sustains will, in a few years, be materially diminished. This is
not all. The value of live stock will be increased at least twenty-five
per cent!
Look for a moment at the amount of capital invested in live stock; and
from these statistics the reader will perceive that not only the
farmers, but the whole nation, will be enriched. There are in the United
States at least 6,000,000 horses and mules; these, at the rate of $50
per head, amount to $300,000,000. It is also estimated that there are
20,000,000 of neat cattle; reckon these at $25 per head, and we get the
snug little sum of $500,000,000. We have also 20,000,000 sheep, worth
the same number of dollars. The number of swine have been computed at
24,000,000; and these, at $3 per head, give us $72,000,000. Hence the
reader will see that the capital invested in this class of live stock
reaches the enormous sum of $892,000,000. Add the 25 per cent. just
alluded to, and we get a clear gain of $223,000,000. This sum would be
sufficient to build veterinary schools and colleges capable of affording
ample accommodations to every farmer's son in the Union. Hence we
entreat the farming community to ponder on these subjects. They have
only to say the word, and schools for the dissemination of veterinary
information shall spring up in every section of the Union.
Does the reader wish to know how the _farmers_ can accomplish this
important object? We answer, there are four millions of men engaged in
agricultural pursuits. Their number is three times greater than that of
those engaged in navigation, the learned professions, commerce, and
manufactures. Hence they have the numerical power to control the
government of these United States, and of course can plead their own
cause in the halls of congress, and vote their own supplies for
educational purposes.
When the author first commenced a warfare against the lancet and other
destructive agents, his only hopes of success were based on the
cooeperation of this mighty host of husbandmen; he well knew that there
were many prejudices to be overcome, and none greater than those
existing among his brethren of the same profession. The farmers have
just begun to see the absurdity of bleeding an animal to death, with a
view of saving life; or pouring down their throats powerful and
destructive agents, with a view of making one disease to cure another!
If the cattle doctors, then, will not reform, they must be reformed
through the giant influence of popular opinion. Already the cry is, and
it emanates from some of the most influential agriculturists in the
country,--"_No more blood-letting!_" "_Use your poisons on yourselves._"
To the cattle-rearing interest, at the hands of many of whom the author
has received aid and encouragement, the following pages are dedicated;
they are intended to furnish them with practical information, with a
view of preventing disease, increasing the value of their stock, and
restoring them to health when sick.
In reference to our reformed system of veterinary medication, it will be
sufficient, in the present place, just to glance at the fundamental
principles. In the succeeding pages these principles will be more fully
explained. We contemplate the animal system as a complicated piece of
mechanism, subject to the uncompromising and immutable laws of nature,
as they are written upon the face of animate nature by the finger of
Omnipotence.
All our intentions of cure being in accordance with nature's laws,
(viz., promoting the integrity of the living powers,) we have termed our
system a _physiological_ one, though it is sometimes termed _botanic_,
in allusion to the fact that most of our remedial agents are derived
from the vegetable kingdom. We recognize a conservative or healing power
in the animal economy, whose unerring indications we endeavor to follow;
considering nature the physician, and the doctor her servant.
Our system proposes, under all circumstances, to restore the diseased
organs to a healthy state, by cooeperating with the vitality remaining in
those organs, by the exhibition of sanative means, and, under all
circumstances, to assist, and not oppose, nature in her curative
processes. Poisonous substances, blood-letting, or processes of cure
that act pathologically, cannot be used by us. The laws of animal life
are physiological: they never were, nor ever will be, pathological.
The agents we use are just as we find them in the forest and the field,
compounded by the Great Physician. Hence the reader will perceive that
our aim is to depart from the popular debilitating and life-destroying
practice, and approach as near as possible to the sanative.