116 GLANDERS AND FARCY. 



as also from knowing that horses which have received the in- 

 fecting material may for some time continue vigorous and to 

 all appearance healthy, and only after a considerable period 

 exhibit visible local specific lesions ; while again the results 

 of experimental investigation may be cited as confirmatory, 

 for in cases where the poison has been introduced into the 

 system of horses and other animals susceptible of being con- 

 taminated, the selective afiinity of the poison for the nose and 

 nasal membrane is distinctly manifest. 



These results I have observed in horses, and experiments 

 upon other animals corroborate them. 



When we regard the numerous direct experiments which 

 have been carried out by different observers in different 

 countries, there would appear to be no doubt that the virus 

 of glanders exists as a fixed infectious agent in the specific 

 local lesions of the diseased, as the ulcers of the nasal mem- 

 brane, the tubercles from the lungs, and also in the blood and 

 blood plasma found as fluid in the softer organs and 

 tissues, also probably in most of the secretions and excretions 

 of the body, the sweat, the saliva, urine, tears, etc., although, 

 as respects some of these latter, we are well aware that 

 attempts to inoculate with them have occasionally proved 

 abortive (Viborg, Coleman, Hering, Chauveau). 



Not only does it appear that the poison of glanders is com- 

 municated by immediate or direct contact of the diseased with 

 the healthy ; it is in addition tolerably certain that it may be 

 propagated by mediate or indirect contact ; that is, by some 

 intermediate bearer of the virus, which, being charged with the 

 infecting material, conveys it to the still healthy. 



The external media acting in this manner are the harness 

 and clothing of diseased horses, the woodwork, fittings, and 

 utensils of stables, as also the similar accessories of railway 

 and other carriages where diseased animals have been placed. 



It has also been stated that glanders has been propagated 

 by the acts of coitus and suckling, that in some instances also 

 it may be regarded as the result of hereditary transmission, 

 and that the poison may be conveyed into the system through 

 the medium of the food or drinking-water. Certainly, if it is 

 (which there is little reason to doubt) capable of propagation 

 in this latter manner, the power of communication is 



