200 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



even man is not exempt. A case illustrative of this is seen in a 

 new disease which has recently appeared in England, termed acti- 

 nomyces, evidently brought from the continent, where it has been 

 known for only a short time. Mr. Fleming, the army veterinary 

 inspector of England, has within the last month called public atten- 

 tion to it, and declares that it prevails extensively among cattle, 

 and that he has found it in pigs, goats, a horse and a dog; while the 

 German medical journals report some sixteen cases in the human 

 subject, and declare it to have been received, undeniably in some 

 of them, from the lower animals. It manifests itself by great en- 

 largement, induration, and ulceration of the tongue; attacks the 

 bones of the face and jaws with tumox's both inside and outside of 

 the throat, and is very destructive, especially to young stock. Mr. 

 Fleming, by microscopic examinations and experiments in pro- 

 pagating it, clearly shows the affection to be due to a minute fungus 

 which he declares obtains an entrance into the system as has been 

 described. I simply introduce these facts 'here to show that im- 

 pure air can be loaded with disease germs, that they can be com- 

 municated from one animal to another, and that if the farmer 

 himself isn't mighty careful, he may receive, at some time, an 

 awakener far more powerful than this paper. 



In making plans to ventilate a building the first question that 

 arises is: How much air shall be admitted and allowed to escape ? 

 Then appears another— how to give it admittance and egress ? To 

 answer these questions we must first consider the use to which the 

 building is to be put, its location, whether on high or low ground, 

 whether surrounded by hedge, forest, or hill, or exposed to the full 

 sweep of the winds. The barn for the storage of fodder does not 

 require as much fresh air as the stable, neither must we compare 

 the stable or piggery with the dairy house and root cellars, there- 

 fore we cannot give a rule to be followed, in ail cases, of so many 

 cubic feet of air to a certain size of building, but we can have 

 a standard to go by, and in all cases it is the requirements of a man 

 of the average weight of 140 lbs. 



Twenty thousand one hundred and sixteen times in every twenty- 

 four hours does the human chest expand and contract in the pro- 

 cess of respiration ; forty-three pfer cent, by measure, of this expired 

 air is carbonic acid, and when taken into the lungs again is a sure 

 poison. The small proportion existing naturally in the air is in- 



