Page:An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ - 1798.djvu/16

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

[ 2 ]

The Wolf, disarmed of ferocity, is now pillowed in the lady's lap[1]. The Cat, the little Tyger of our island, whose natural home is the forest, is equally domesticated and caressed. The Cow, the Hog, the Sheep, and the Horse, are all, for a variety of purposes, brought under his care and dominion.

There is a disease to which the Horse, from his state of domestication, is frequently subject. The Farriers have termed it the Grease. It is an inflammation and swelling in the heel, from which issues matter possessing properties of a very peculiar kind, which seems capable of generating a disease in the Human Body (after it has undergone the modification which I shall presently speak of), which bears so strong a resemblance to the Small Pox, that I think it highly probable it may be the source of that disease.

  1. The late Mr. John Hunter proved by experiments, that the Dog is the Wolf in a degenerated state.
In