SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART X. 647 



closely associated, and where both are imposed on inmates of a well filled 

 stable the inevitable outcome is that this oxygen carrier, the haemaglobin, 

 becomes subnormal in quantity, while the air in the building becomes 

 deoxygenized and laden with poison gases, from being breathed and re- 

 breathed by the animals, thus robbing the tissues to a still greater degree 

 of that essential property, which lends strength and vigor to the animal 

 system. Many examples of the injurious influence exercised by such 

 conditions as those described, have fallen under my personal observation, 

 but time will not permit me to call attention at this time to more than one, 

 and that as briefly as possible. 



A few years ago, in Buchanan county, I had occasion to test a herd of 

 fifty cows with tuberculin, to determine if any were afflicted with tuber- 

 culosis. During the winter prior to the time of testing, and in the morn- 

 ings and evenings of the summer months, while milking was in progress, 

 these cows were stabled in the basement of a large barn. On the west 

 side and part of the north end of this basement, the walls were built into 

 an excavation in a hillside, the surface of the ground being about on a level 

 with the ceiling of the cow stable, which was undoubtedly considered a 

 great benefit, affording as it did, ample protection against the cold winter, 

 as well as the summer's heat. The ceiling was low and liberally supplied 

 with cobwebs and dirt, an ideal habitation for disease-producing germs. 

 On the east side were the doors, and a number of small windows, the latter 

 being rendered opaque by the accumulated dust of years. The whole in- 

 terior was so gloomy that it would require a keen eye to read from the 

 printed'pages of an ordinary newspaper, if standing any distance from the 

 open door. Although warmly housed and well fed, these cows were in a 

 very unsatisfactory physical condition in the spring, and their milk tests 

 at the creamery were equally unsatisfactory. The tuberculin test showed 

 thirty-two of them were tuberculous. This is a fair example of the results 

 of sanitary negligence. Compare this with the Texas cattle, which roam 

 at freedom over the plains. * * * jn lowa and other northern states, 

 an outdoor life for cattle the whole year round is out of the question, owing 

 to the severity of the winters. About five months of every year, shelter 

 from the wind, the snow and frost must be provided to prevent suffering, 

 with consequent loss of flesh and milk in the adult, and very often life 

 itself in the young and weak. This being the case it becomes necessary to 

 exercise your faculties of reason and inquire what conditions aside from 

 freedom exists in the open air that are not found in the stable. The two 

 words in the question, open air. suggest the answer, which is no other than 

 pure air and sunlight. But this does not complete the solution of the 

 problem. In what way can stabled cattle be accommodated in this partic- 

 ular, equally with those on the range? I will admit that the answer is 

 easier than the achievement, and is simply this: If you can not have 

 your cattle outside, bring the outside inside to your cattle. To be more 

 definite, I will say that if life in the open air and sunlight contributed to 

 health, where severity of climate makes shelter unavoidable, it should be 

 provided with such thorough ventilation that the air on the inside as it 

 becomes impregnated with carbondioxide from the breath of the animals is 

 constantly finding its way out, while the fresh oxygen-laden air from the 

 outside is as constantly being supplied to take its place, sunlight being 



