226 Litter. 



quency, in tliat part of (he continent of India^ ^vliere the British 

 system of Stable Management has made its -vvay. Now, although it 

 be truCj that in our Indian Possessions, Horses are not stabled, but 

 stand under linnies or open sheds, yet, their litter consists of sucli 

 substances as are readily susceptible of the putrefactive fermentation, 

 and the consequence of this is, that raoon-bliadness. Farcy and 

 Glanders, are just as commonly met with there, as in the British 

 Islands, For, the free circulation of air in the open shed«, 

 which must of course sweep oif a great deal of the Volatile Alkali 

 that is generated, is not sufficient to counterbalance the immense 

 quantity of that salt which is evolved from the putrefaction' of the 

 urine and litter; so prodigious is the rapidity with which that process 

 runs on, in a climate where the heat is so intense, that the Ther- 

 mometer is known to stand cqmmonly, as high as ninety in the 

 shade. 



Whereas, in some parts of South America, where the heat, al- 

 though not altogether so great, is yet sufficient to expedite the pu- 

 trefaction of animal and vegetable matter with great celerity. Horses 

 are, on account of their small value, not only not stabled, but 

 neither are they subjected to the pernicious effects of fermentable 

 Litter, the use of which is comparatively unknown, in that part of 

 the world. These are strong, and, I believe, incontrovertible facts. 

 Nevertheless, so impossible is it to extricate altogether, even liberal 

 minds from the trammels \vhich custom imposes, that I have frequent- 

 ly found it difficult to convince the enlightened, that my opinions 

 were not rather the dreams of hypothesis than the result of many 

 years practice and calm consideration of the subjects on which 

 they are founded. And as to people in general, they are so much 



