120 Farcy, 



the voya<^e a gale of wind came on, and the Master of one of the 

 Horse transports^ was under the necessity of securing the hatches, 

 by (what thessailors call) battening them down. The Horses being, 

 by this means, deprived of fresh air, soon felt the deplorable effects 

 of such privation; for when the gale ceased, and the hatches were 

 opened, several of the poor animals were found dead, and almost 

 every one of, those that survived, was attacked with either Farcy or 

 Glanders. It is an undoubted fact too, that Horses which have been 

 the subject of Farcy, are decidedly, more liable to attacks of the 

 complaint, than others; and old Horses more than young ones. — 

 And this, I imagine, may be very satisfactorily explained, without 

 having recourse to the common notion, of the complaint's lurking in 

 the blood. For, I think it a much juster mode of reasoning upon 

 «uch sort of facts, to say, that a peculiar condition of the living fibre 

 may exist, in any animal, whereby, he may be liable to an attack or 

 recurrence, of certain diseases, than to suppose the presence of any 

 specific virus, which has been lurking in the habit, or circulating 

 with the blood, for a great length of time. A supposition, which. 

 as it would utterly preclude the possibility of considering any Horse 

 sound, that had once been the subject of Farcy, would be equally 

 repugnant to truth, and to just philosophical principles. Nor do I 

 rashly nor inconsiderately maintain this opinion, although I am 

 \\e\i aware that many well authenticated instances of H}'drophobia 

 ^nd Syphilis, in the human subject, seem to miHtate against it. 

 JL have already remarked, that old Horses are more liable to be at- 

 tacked with Farcy than young ones, or those of a middle age, espc- 

 tiall^iCjtheyliave once been subjects of the disease. I remember 

 an instance of a Horse, which, having been severely affected with 



a 



