His feeling was that with "proper medical advice, strictly followed, this troublesome practice that many Negroes have of running away can be almost entirely prevented".[1] As a remedy for this "disease", doctors made running a physical impossibility by prescribing the removal of both big toes.[2]:42 In the case of slaves "sulky and dissatisfied without cause"–a warning sign of imminent flight–Cartwright prescribed "whipping the devil out of them" as a "preventative measure".[3]:35[8][9]