AIR. 129 



fiionally break out in such stables ? Chemical experiments hare 

 demonstrated that the urine of the horse contains in it an ex- 

 ceedingly large quantity of hartshorn ; aiid not only so, but 

 that, influenced by the heat of a crowded stable, and possibly 

 by other decompositions which are going on at the same time, 

 this ammoniacal vapor begins to be rapidly given out almost 

 immediately after the urine is voided. 



When disease begins to appear among the inhabitants of these 

 ill-ventilated places, it is not wonderful that it should rapidly 

 spread among them, and that the plague-spot should be, as it 

 were, placed on the door of such a stable. When distemper 

 appears in spring or autumn, it is in very many cases to be 

 traced to such a pest-house. It is peculiarly fatal there. The 

 horses belonging to a small estabhshment, and rationally 

 treated, have it comparatively seldon], or. when they do, but 

 lightly ; but among the inmates of a crowded stable it is sure 

 to display itself, and there it is most deadly. The experience 

 of every veterinary surgeon, and of every large proprietor of 

 horses, will corroborate this statement. 



Every stable, then, should possess within itself a certain de- 

 gree of ventilation. The cost of this would be trifling, and its 

 saving in the preservation of valuable animals may be immense. 

 The apertures need not be large, and the whole, as before said, 

 may be so contrived that no direct current of air shall fall on 

 the horse, 



A gentleman's stable should never be without a thermometer. 

 The temperature should seldom exceed seventy degrees in the 

 Bummer, or sink below forty or fifty degrees in the winter. 

 9 



