49 STABLE ECONOMY. 



habitations of man, and the deficiency of oxygen must be so 

 much the greater. 



The deterioration of air by consumption of oxygen, and ad- 

 dition of carbon, is produced entirely by breathing ; and when 

 carried beyond a certain point, debility, or disease, or death, 

 one or all, must be the result. But the air of a close stable 

 is vitiated by other means. There are emanations from the 

 surface of the body, from the dung, and from the urine. The 

 effluvia, arising from these, mingle with the air, and con- 

 taminate it, till it acquires the power of exciting disease 

 When the dung and urine are allowed to accumulate day 

 after day, till the horse lies upon a bed of rotting litter, the 

 air becomes still more seriously tainted. When first entered 

 in the morning, the pungent vapors of these close stables are 

 almost suffocating. Even after the doors have been open all 

 day, there are many corners where the air is always foul. 

 The acrid odor which irritates the eyes and nostrils, is chiefly 

 or entirely composed of ammonia. It is given out by the 

 evacuations, particularly after they have begun to ferment, to 

 rot. [The best substance to sweeten and purify the at- 

 mosphere in stables, and for fixing the ammonia arising so 

 strongly from horse urine in particular, as well as from all 

 animal evacuation, is charcoal-dust scattered over the floors, 

 among the litter, and on the dung-heap. Plaster of Paris is 

 an excellent thing ; also sulphuric acid diluted with about 

 fifty per cent, of water, and sprinkled on the litter. All these 

 substances add to the value of the manure, more especially 

 the charcoal-dust, and it has the further advantage of being 

 cheapest, and usually the most easily obtained.] 



The chymist can 'discover the carbonic acid and the am- 

 moniacal vapor which mingle with the air of a close stable. 

 By examining the air after a certain manner, he not only as- 

 certains the presence of these gases, but he also measures 

 their quant'ty. It has, however, been supposed that the air 

 often contains foreign matters, whose existence can not be 

 shown by any chyniical process. There is reason to believe, 

 that whenever a large number of animals are crowded to- 

 gether, and compelled to breathe and rebreathe the same air 

 stveral times, an aerial poison is generated, having pow^r to 

 produce certain diseases. Professor Coleman is of opinion, 

 that glanders in the horse, rot in sheep, husk in swine, typhus 

 fever, and some other diseases of the human species, are all 

 occasionally produced in this way. It is certain that health 

 can not be maintained in an atmosphere greatly vitiated ; but 



