DISSEMINATION. 147 



which may be mistaken for any exhibition of this special 

 affection, we must never forget that in assisting us in determin- 

 ing as to the existence of glanders in any of its forms or 

 developments, and in guarding us so as not rashly to pronounce 

 an opinion as to the freedom of animals suspected from con- 

 tamination with the infecting virus, we will ever find careful 

 interrogation of attendants and owners, and the collection of 

 as much information relating to the history of the antecedents 

 and associations, certain and possible, of the horse, of much 

 benefit ; often more to be relied upon for guidance than the 

 conclusions arrived at from the observance of existing physical 

 signs. 



Dissemination. — Amongst those who are best informed, and 

 most capable of judging, it is a generally admitted fact that 

 glanders in any of its forms is of less frequent occurrence and 

 less widely distributed in our country at the present day than 

 in periods which ' have preceded. The opinion formerly 

 dominant both here and in other countries of Europe, that it 

 was not capable of being propagated by contagion or infection, 

 was certainly productive of incalculable mischief; while the 

 adoption of the idea of its infectious character, and the mould- 

 ing of our actions and of our management of horses in accord- 

 ance with this idea, have probably had more to do with lessen- 

 ing the numbers diseased than all other measures taken 

 together. While there seems every reason to believe that in 

 proportion as the idea that it is more frequently caught than 

 generated, or that it never originates autochthonously, gains 

 ground and takes possession of the minds of those intimately 

 connected with the management of horses, in like proportion 

 will our losses decrease, and the rapidity and frequency which 

 mark its extension from centres of infection be curtailed and 

 circumscribed. 



Although many of our veterinarians still strenuously hold 

 to the behef that farcy-glanders may arise spontaneously, even 

 they now more willingly allow that it is largely distributed by 

 the direct contact of the diseased with the healthy, or indirectly 

 by the medium of contaminated agents or carriers. So long, 

 however, as we entertain the opinion that glanders is largely 

 capable of spontaneous development, or that its genesis is 

 brought about by the operation of adverse influences, and in- 



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