The American Reformed Cattle Doctor

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.