CONTAGION. 65 



are seen in bad cases of glanders, (which see.) These 

 tubercles suppurate, and discharge pus. This pus is ab- 

 eorbed and taken into the blood, and sets up a ferment, or 

 leaveUy as the Scriptures call it. This is the great trouble 

 in consumption in man, and glanders in the horse. Why 

 authors have not called this tuberculous disease in horses, 

 consumption, I do not know, except it be, and I am in- 

 clined to believe it is, from an entire ignorance of its true 

 pathology or character. 



Treatment. Incurable. To prolong the life, beef soup, 

 iron, gentian, tonics and stimulants, are indicated. In the 

 tuberculous form, sulphite of soda should be given to arrest 

 the ferment, and keep the blood clear of impurities, in 

 addition to the remedies to support the strength. (See 

 Medicines.) Decay ^ putrefaction, fe7^mentation, are true and 

 scientific expressions, with no vague meaning. Such, then, 

 are the conditions embraced in the word consumptioUy 

 whether in men or animals. 



Contagion. — This term is applied to something (as the 

 virus of glanders) coming in contact with the body of an 

 animal in health, producing a similar disease to that exist- 

 ing in the animal from which it came. In a word, it is a 

 specific poison. Few diseases of animals are considered 

 contagious. The following diseases, however, are con- 

 sidered of that character : — Glanders, in horses ; contagious 

 typhus and small-pox, in cattle and sheep. Although many 

 animals may be taken sick one after another, this is no proof 

 that the disease is contagious ; for it must be remembered 

 that a number of animals, all situated and cared for in the 

 same way, are certainly subjected to the same exciting causes 

 that produced the disease in the first animal aifected. 

 Those that escaped the disease were not predisposed to 

 take it ; hence their exemption from its effects. 

 6 



