2-979-543 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches of Irish Character - "The Irish Cow Doctor" - drawn by E. Fitzpatrick, 1857. 'To give a general idea of the cow-doctor, he is invariably an old bachelor..."experience teacheth," the experiments he had formerly practised on his own cattle have converted him from an eccentric into a scientific, and if not a sad, at least a wise man. He is now recognised by the farmers of his district as the cow-doctor, from the skill he exercises in curing their distempered cattle, when all the resources they had previously adopted proved unavailing...As he is in great demand through the country, be always contrives to make his visits visitations, and the entertainment he receives from the owner of his patient is all he expects directly to gain for his professional services'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.