("OXTAGIOX. 239 



to horses in liealtli, producing in them acute glanders and farcy, 

 Although, therefore, less danger is to be apprehended from a horse 

 having chronic glanders than from one having the disease in an 

 acute or sub-acute form, we are by no means warranted in treat- 

 ing the subject of chronic disease as though no contagion could be 

 caught from him ; on the contrary, such precautions should be 

 taken in regard to him as ma}' prevent his intercourse with sound 

 horses; leading which segregated life he may, and will do work, 

 it is probable for years, without shewing any signs of failure, or 

 growing anywise worse in his ailments. 



To CONCLUDE WITH MY OWN OPINIONS on the subject of con- 

 tagion, they are shortly these : — I have no more doubt of glanders 

 being a contagious disease than I have of syphilis or small-pox or 

 itch being contagious. At the same time, from the known fastidi- 

 ousness of contagion in regard to its operation, and from the seve- 

 ral collateral circumstances required to insure its effect in the case 

 of glanders in the horse, in the generality of instances the chances 

 of escaping under its influence greatly, I believe, exceed those of 

 contamination. The comparatively few examples that any of us 

 can adduce of contagion, even after an experience of many years, 

 in my mind seems to warrant this inference ; at the same time, 

 these examples are fully sufficient both to establish the fact and 

 warn us against running any risk of propagating the disease. The 

 lamentable as well as discreditable difference of opinion that has 

 liitherto existed on the contagiousness of glanders seems to have 

 arisen out of the narrowness of the circuit of observation whence the 

 deductions have been made : one man's practice may not have 

 furnished him with any well-marked examples of contagion, an- 

 other's may have shewn him several ; the former infers that 

 glanders is a disease of self-origin, the latter that contagion is its 

 source ; both too precipitately and confidently running to their oppo- 

 site conclusions. Let us hope, however, now that our sphere of 

 observation and experience is becoming so much enlarged by the 

 contributions of fellow-labourers, both in our own and in foreign 

 countries, that we shall approximate in our opinions on this vitally 

 important question ; and, as a humble step towards such desirable 



VOL. III. I i 



