220 VETERTNART DENTAL SURGERY. 



thought, (his investigations extending over that 

 country bordering on the Ohio River), in his works 

 on equine diseases expresses himself as being of the 

 belief that its cause is probably traceable directly to 

 the feeding of Indian corn. But this idea is an 

 erroneous one, as we find it existing in animals that 

 never received a grain of maize. The same author 

 is also of the opinion that it may have an hereditary 

 origin as he says: "Unless this be the case we can- 

 not account for its universal prevalence." Here 

 again he is in error, and had he noted the formation 

 of those localities in which he found it to be most 

 prevalent, although universal as he terms it, I think 

 possibly his opinion would have been altered. I shall 

 not attempt myself to speak positively on this part 

 of the subject, but will give the history of a few 

 cases and leave you to draw your own conclusions: 

 Case i. In the fall of 1883 there was shipped 

 from the western states, a three-year-old colt, to a 

 malarial district of one of the Atlantic bordering 

 states; she being richly bred was intended for track 

 purposes. Her food consisting principally of hay, 

 oats and bran, best quality grown in the west, for all 

 such provender used in the cities in that country, is 

 shipped from that section. Grass was given to her 

 each day after her work and the water given was 

 obtained from a cistern which was filled by the 

 water shed from the roofs of the neighboring build- 



