162 BOARD OF AGEICULTURE. 



that some gentlemen here, who are familiar with the subject, 

 may possibly throw more light upon it. 



Dr. Joseph Bates, of Worcester. There are a great many 

 good things which have not yet been said in relation to the 

 horse disease. A friend at my left suggests that he has been 

 driving two horses for some time, one diseased, the other not 

 diseased. That is a pretty conclusive fact for my friend (Dr. 

 Sturtevant) who inquires, " Is the disease contagious ? " I 

 contend that it is not. I contend that the causes are perhaps 

 in the atmosphere, rather than elsewhere. The horses that 

 he speaks of as going from home to the post-office and the 

 various places of amusement or places of business, are the 

 horses that are exposed to the atmosphere. Had they re- 

 mained at home in their stables, well protected, they would 

 not have had the disease, as I understand it. 



Then again, it is often said by gentlemen who really do not 

 understand the distinction between " epidemic " and " endem- 

 ic," and all those phrases that are used, " Why, I drove my 

 horse that was perfectly well to the city, day before yester- 

 day, and when I got him home, he was attacked." Well he 

 might have been, because he had been exposed to the very 

 atmospheric influences which have produced the disease 

 throughout the land, wherever it has spread. 



Then, in relation to horses drinking acids. It is a fact that 

 all horses will drink acids more or less, if they can get them ; 

 all our horses cannot afford it. They will drink ncAv cider 

 and old cider, and I remember seeing, in a work which I was 

 consultino- in relation to this verv disease in England, in 

 1792, the statement that it was the custom there to give 

 horses malt and malt liquors, and they drank the malt liquors 

 to excess ; as some people now do. If a horse is afflicted 

 with pneumonia in its first stages, you cannot compel him to 

 drink stimulants or acid's, or anything else, unless the morbid 

 condition of his appetite induces him to drink them when he 

 would not drink anything else. So far as regards the use of 

 gin, it is very Avell ; that is not to be left out ; it is an excel- 

 lent stimulant for a horse as well as for a man, in sickness. 

 There have been altogether too many remedies used ; it has 

 been a hap-hazard business ; everybodj^ has been trying them ; 

 everybody in the community owns a good horse, or calls it a 



