re a warm fire, if
they have a cold. Many animals know how to treat a sore eye--by lying in
the dark, and repeatedly licking their paws and placing them over the
afflicted member.

How wonderful would the human race become, if it had the strength of a
lion, the power of a bear, the wisdom of an elephant, the cleverness of
a fox, and the health of the wild boar! But these qualities are found
chiefly among the animals because of the marvellous knowledge of the
laws of health and self-preservation.

John Wesley claimed, in his directions on the art of keeping well, that
many of the medicines which were used among the common people of his
time were first discovered by watching animals in their medical
practices to cure their ills and pains. "If they heal animals, they will
also heal men," he claimed. The American Indians learned most of their
cures from watching animals, especially the cure of such diseases as
fever, rheumatism, dysentery, and snake-bites. A rheumatic old wolf
would bathe in the warm waters of a sulphur spring; a sick and feverish
deer would eat the fresh leaves of healing ferns, while a wounded hog or
bear would always seek a red-clay bath to heal the wounds. Sick dogs
will invariably eat certain weeds, and an unwell cat will seek healing
mints and grasses.

Old hunters tell us that a deer after having been chased for several
hours by dogs, and after having escaped them by swimming a cold stream,
will, upon reaching safety, lie down in the ice and snow. If a man did
such a thing, he would immediately die. But not so with the deer, for he
will arise about every hour and move around to exercise himself, and on
the morrow he is perfectly well. The same animal, shut up in a warm barn
for the night, as has many times been demonstrated with circus animals,
will be dead by morning.

From this natural method of healing, mankind may learn much, and
especially as it pertains to the treatment of extreme heat, cold,
exhaustion, and paralysis of the muscles, and most especially sores and
wounds. I have seen a wounded hog that had been badly bitten by a dog,
wallow in rich red mud to stop the flow of blood.

It is a common practice for a raccoon actually to amputate a diseased
leg, or one that has been wounded by a gunshot, and wash the stub in
cool flowing water. When it is healing, he licks it with his tongue to
massage it, and also to stop the pain and reduce the swelling. This
wisdom is often classed by the un