14 THE CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS 



almost one and all. Under the conditions 

 in which we see them in that Show, a single 

 month would be sufficient to produce almost 

 their complete destruction; for even a single 

 week, which is the usual duration of their 

 confinement, affects them so much as to render 

 a large proportion of them unhealthy. 



Every one knows how apt cavalry horses 

 are to sicken and die off during a campaign. 

 Every one has heard of the fearful ravages 

 amongst the horses of the Allied armies during 

 the Crimean war, when many companies were 

 dismounted owing to this mortality. 



Let us now transport ourselves in thought 

 into the middle of those immense steppes 

 where vast and innumerable herds of herbivo- 

 rous animals are being bred for our supply, 

 and consider what will be the effects on their 

 health and life if they should be afflicted with 

 a scarcity of forage, in consequence of this 

 long dry summer. 



It is unnecessary to say that there exist in 

 Eussia, in Hungary, in Australia, in North 

 and South America, and in many other parts 

 of the globe, large tracts of country which are 

 still uninhabited, whose uncultivated soil sup- 



