Chapters 10-12 Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 10 Herriot writes about a time when he accidentally killed an animal while trying to treat it. A pharmaceutical representative introduced Herriot to a injection proven to cure foul of the foot, a disease in cows that was up until that time, difficult to treat. The drug rep promises the injection will cure this foot disease in just a couple of days. The only precaution is that the medicine must be injected directly into the vein. An abscess could result if the medicine is injected in any other location.

Although the injections do work, Herriot describes the initial reaction of farmers to this cure. These farmers were accustomed to the doctor applying medicine directly to the foot; they didn't believe an injection in the neck could cure a disease in the foot. One farmer, Robert Maxwell, had a...