CONTAGIOUS BLOOD DISEASES. 451 



yield to treatment, and they soon become chronically enlarged. The dis- 

 charge is contagious the same as that of glanders. Farcy sooner or later 

 runs into glanders and terminates fatally. Doubtful cases can be proven by 

 testing them with mallein, a toxin prepared from the cultivated bacillus. 

 The services of a qualified veterinarian are needed to make this test. 



What to do. — Treatment should not be attempted at all, for it is always 

 fatal in spite of the most scientific and persistent efforts ; the fatal termi- 

 nation may be postponed for a while, but the animal is sowing the con- 

 tagion all the time, and doing an inestimable amount of damage. The 

 fact that the disease is contagious to men, and always fatal too, is another 

 reason why no man should attempt to treat a case a moment after it is 

 satisfactorily diagnosed. When any doubt exists, or a suspicious case i= 

 seen, isolate the animal at once and quarantine him ; prevent any com- 

 munication with other animals, and await developments. The discharge 

 of catarrh being whitish and more mucous in character, is easily recog- 

 nized, and the nasal membrane never assumes that mouse-eaten appear- 

 ance that is seen in glanders. Shoot every animal known to be affected 

 with glanders, and bury the carcass very deep. 



Prevention. — Avoid overcrowding and poor ventilation. See to it that 

 no affected animals are allowed to run at large, or even to be used about 

 the place in any way ; avoid letting horses drink any more than is abso- 

 lutely necessary in public troughs. Either tear down and burn any 

 infected stable, or have it disinfected under the supervision of a qualified 

 veterinary surgeon. All suspected cases should be placed under his 

 charge till the doubt is settled. 



It should be made a criminal act, with a heavy penalty, to expose 

 affected animals in public places, or to sell or offer them for sale. A 

 health commission of three qualified veterinary surgeons should be em- 

 powered to destroy glandered horses, with or without the consent of the 

 owner ; and the State should bear half the loss, by reimbursing the 

 owner w4th half the value of the animal before he took the disease. It 

 ki a misfortune for which he is not to blame, and which the State should 

 help him to bear. 



n. Strangles. 



Strangles is a specific blood poison, peculiar to hor»es, and usually 

 confined to young ones. It depends upon a morbid condition of the 

 system, is contagious, and corresponds to children's diseases in human 

 medicine. It is most common in damp, cold seasons. The poison in the 

 blood manifests itself in large, phlegmonous abscesses around the throat; 

 this is the usual manner in which it breaks out. But in some cases it 

 takes a very different course, breaking out in abscesses on any part of the 

 body. Sometimes no abscesses gather at all, and the fever remains 

 diffused in the system, instead of coming to a head in one place. These 



