32 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture 



STABLE DISINFECTION. 



By Prof. Jas. B. Paige, Veterinarian to the Board, 



The most satisfactory aud least expensive method of dealing 

 with the diseases of domestic animals is to prevent them. In 

 many instances this may be done to advantage, with but little 

 trouble on the part of the owner. 



The prevention of disease is more under control of the one 

 having immediate care of animals than the veterinarian, who is 

 only consulted, or directs as to the best methods of prevention. 

 This applies to such disorders as arise from improper feeding or 

 watering, over-working, not allowing sufficient exercise to keep 

 in a healthy condition ; to disease, occurring in connection with 

 keeping animals under unsanitary conditions ; for example, keep- 

 ing animals closely confined in stables where there is defective 

 drainage, or where there is a deficiency of pure air or insufficient 

 light, — in general, where conditions are such as tend to weaken 

 the constitution and open the way for the easy development of 

 disease. 



The scientific study of animal pathology and bacteriology during 

 recent years has demonstrated that a large proportion of the ani- 

 mal diseases is caused by the introduction into the body of mi- 

 croscopically minute particles of living vegetable matter, whose 

 growth in the body fluids or tissues, or the action of whose prod- 

 uct of growth upon the different organs, gives rise to this or that 

 disease. 



This applies to most disorders of a contagious or infectious 

 nature. The organisms causing the diseases are given off from 

 the bodies of the affected animals, aud are brought in contact, 

 through the medium of the air or by some similar means, with the 

 bodies of the healthy animals. 



We know that certain of these contagious diseases have a specific 

 cause in the form of an organism possessing peculiar character- 

 istics by which we are able by bacteriological methods to detect 



