56 



are led out of their hot and close apartment into the 

 yard, there to be stripped of their rugs and to stand 

 in the cold while undergoing the process of grooming. 

 As a natural consequence the master is constantly 

 being annoyed by a tap at the study door and " Beg 

 pardon, Sir, but the bay 'oss, he's off his feed this 

 morning, Sir, and he do cough awful bad. Sir." 



If on the other hand one buys a horse at the back 

 end of the year, perhaps a three-year-old, or it may 

 be a cheap and useful screw in want of rest, and then 

 turns him out for a twelve months' run, this animal 

 while out in the open will go through the most severe 

 winter without the slightest cough. All this has been 

 my own personal experience in my old horse keeping 

 days and can be corroborated by many other horse 

 owners all over the country. Then again I am old 

 enough to remember the time when cases of con- 

 sumption were carefully boxed up in stuffy rooms to 

 run their invariable course to certain death. To-day 

 a more enlightened spirit is abroad and such patients 

 are treated with a regimen of open air, both by day 

 and by night and at all seasons of the year. Moreover 

 it is found that the presence of a certain amount of 

 bronchitis is no bar to this treatment, and that by 

 degrees this affection improves pari passu with the 

 the main trouble. The fact of the matter is that 

 oxygen and natural light are not only the indirect 

 cause of death to the bacilhis tuberculosis when this 

 is established in the animal tissues, but are, when 

 combined with steady exercise and rational feeding, 

 absolutely essential to the health of the mucous 

 membranes of all mammals and birds. 



(To be continued). 



