212 CAUSES OF GLANDERS, 

 reciprocal. It is a fact well known, that the cow-pox is transferred 

 to the milkers from having wounds or excoriations in their hands ; 

 and / have frequently had my hands scratched by the diseased 

 bones in dissecting the heads of glandered horses, and covered with 

 matter, but never found the least inflammation excited, or any other 

 ill effects produced ; and I have often applied it to dogs with the 

 same result" Mr. Smith argues " the improbability of one horse 

 infecting another," from the hair with which the animal is "com- 

 pletely covered;" it being known that rabid saliva is wiped off the 

 teeth by a woollen garment so as to prevent infection, and, moreover, 

 that the matter of glanders becomes soon dry and as hard as glue. 

 " And if there is so Utile probability of this poison being conveyed 

 into the system in the most fluid state, how can it be communicated 

 to it after having remained on the surface of a rack, in the crevice 

 of a manger, or in a hole in the wall, for months or years, a^s is 

 commonly reported ? This appears equally absurd and incredible 

 as it is for one horse to communicate the disease to another when 

 fifteen or twenty miles apart." — " But, it may be objected, that, 

 although the mucus has become dry and solid, may not the breath 

 and saliva of the animal render it again fluid, that it may be taken 

 up by the absorbents 1" But, if this were the case, " the lips, and not 

 the nostrils, would always be the first part affected,'' — " which very 

 rarely happens." And although the nasal membrane is so much ex- 

 posed, yet has it ''greater power of resisting the action of any morbid 

 poison^' from its being " a secreting surface ;'' "therefore the ulcera- 

 tion observed in the membrane in this disease does not appear to be 

 produced by the absorption of a poison.'' — " I have in a variety of 

 instances seen one horse lick the nostrils of another that was glander- 

 ed clean with his tongue, but never saw ulcers produced by it, either 

 on the lips or the tongue." — " I have known horses of a brigade of 

 cavalry pterfectly free from the disease for a long time prior to 

 their taking the field, yet before they had been encamped two 

 months some of them became glandered, although they stood on 

 ground where no horses had been for many months, perhaps years, 

 before." From whence did the disease proceed ] Was it contagion? 

 ' Most certainly,' say its advocates." " When at Longford, I was 

 informed by General of some French authors having asserted 



