20 HORSE-MASTERSHIP 



ventilated, and dark stables, and that, had 

 they not had these germs on the linings of 

 their nostrils and throats, not one of them 

 could possibly have got the specific fever 

 from which they all suffered. No cold or 

 wet could possibly give that, any more than 

 cold or wet could produce a new animal. To 

 prove this, let me go back awhile, and tell 

 you something of the hard work and thought 

 which brings me before you to-night. 



Some eight years ago I had a small stable of 

 race-horses under my charge. Coughing was 

 reported from neighbouring stables, and pre- 

 sently my horses caught it. All got a tem- 

 perature, in some cases as high as io6°; all 

 looked sick ; were coughing and running from 

 the nose — in a word, all had the disease which 

 caused the long sick lines at our camp in last 

 and previous trainings. I then formed the 

 opinion that this was a bacterial disease, and 

 have since proved this by taking specimens 

 of the nasal discharge, and submitting them 

 to bacteriological examination. The usual 

 pus-forming bacteria were found, as well as 



