194 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



CHAPTER XIX 



ON GLANDERS. 



Glanders is one of those diseases that 

 have puzzled the most scientific veterinarians 

 that ever existed, both French as viell as 

 Enghsh ; and even that great philosopher in 

 Horse knowledge, Professor Coleman, has his 

 doubts of its curability, even to this day. 



Glanders, there is no doubt, is a contagious 

 disorder, and one that is generally thought 

 incurable. The great number of Horses that 

 have been destroyed by glanders, especially 

 in the army, and in establishments where great 

 numbers of Horses are kept, has excited par- 

 ticular attention to the subject, especially in 

 France and Italy, where many attempts were 

 made in the beginning ot the last century to 

 discover a remedy for it. 



Lafosse, an eminent French veterinarian, 

 considered it a local disease, and thought he 

 had discovered a successful mode of treating 

 it, which consisted in perforating the bones 

 which cover the frontal sinuses, and injecting 

 through the opening astringent and other 

 liquids *. 



After this opinion had been published, 

 some English farriers made a trial of it ; and 

 by others, detergent lotions were poured into 



* This operation I have frequently seen at the Royal 

 Veterinary College, performed by Mr. Savill, but without 

 wiy good efiect. 



the nostrils, the nose being drawn up 'or ine 

 purpose, by means of a pulley. Attempts 

 were also made to cure it by arsenical fumi- 

 gations, and went so far as burning out the 

 submaxilliary glands between the jaws, or 

 sloughing them out by caustics. The various 

 preparations, mercury, copper "t", iron, and 

 arsenic, have likewise been used. 



From the circumstance of Horses having 

 sometimes escaped the disorder, though they 

 have been standing: in the same stall, or 

 stable, or drinking out of the same bucket, or 

 trough with a glaiidered Hor.se, many have 

 been led to doubt its being contagious, and 

 the little care that some large proprietors have 

 taken to prevent the spreading of the disorder, 

 in consequence of such opinions having been 

 held, has been the cause of very numerous 

 and serious losses. That the glanders is con- 

 tagious, has been clearly and indisputably 

 proved by numerous experiments, and the 

 manner in which it is propagated has likewise 

 been satisfactorily demonstrated. At the same 

 time, it must be admitted glanders will arise 

 from inoculation, and this not by a wilful 



t A solution of the sulphate of copper, is the remedy 

 made use of at the Royal Veterinary College, in solution, 

 of from two to five drams, combined with a little lineeed 

 Ileal. 



