1882.] DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 29 



prepared and acted upon by the Committee after the other. 

 It was framed with the express design of restraining- the 

 powers conferred by the general law, and of saving tlie State 

 from the possibly large expense incurred in slaughtering 

 glandered horses. There was an imperative call for a law 

 to protect the lives and property of our citizens against this 

 specific danger, and this accounts for the prompt and some- 

 what hasty action of the General Assembly, with the special 

 provision that it should take effect from its passage ; hence it 

 was in operation before the general law was passed, your 

 Commission having been called upon and having taken imme- 

 diate action under its provisions. Both laws were reported 

 to the General Assembly by the Committee at the same time, 

 Jan. 2Tth, 1880. The law on glanders, though presented to 

 the Committee some time after the other, and receiving their 

 approval as supplementary to it, passed the General Assem- 

 bly Feb. 25th, but final action on the general law was delayed 

 till March 25tli, near the close of the session. 



This case shows the necessity of some further legislation 

 upon the subject. We have preferred to await the action of 

 the General Assembly, rather than to urge the enforcement 

 of the law against Mr. Merwin. 



While we concur in the generally-accepted opinion that a 

 glandered horse is not only valueless but dangerous both to 

 the owner and the community, and while we do not know of 

 any country, state, or municipality where glandered horses 

 are destroyed by law in which the owner receives any com- 

 pensation from the public treasury, yet we would suggest that 

 in view of removing any appearance of hardship inflicted by 

 the destruction of private property for the public good, and 

 the more rapid and complete extinction of glanders, as so 

 well set forth in the report of Dr. Law for 1880, that the 

 General Assembly should be asked to provide some compensa- 

 tion to the owners of horses which may be declared affected 

 with glanders by some established authority, and destroyed 

 by them. Let the horses in their diseased condition be 

 appraised by competent persons, destroyed by some estab- 

 lished authority, and a part of their appraised value be paid 

 from the State treasury. 



