THE STABLE.] 



MODEEN YETEEINART PHACTTCE. 



[the 8TABLX. 



strained, or his liauncli bruised in getting out 

 of it." 



Loftiness is oiio of tlie most desirable at- 

 tributes of a stable, and duo regard ought to 

 be paid to its proper ventilation, for liorses as 

 well as men are poisoned by breathing in an 

 impure atmosphere. We will, therefore, here 

 consider some of the moat essential requisites 

 of a healthy stable. 



AIR. 



Mr. Clarke, of Edinburgh, was the first to 

 advocate the use of well-ventilated stables; 

 and after him. Professor Coleman, of the Vete- 

 rinary College, established them in the quarters 

 of the cavalry troops. Their advantages were 

 soon made apparent in the discontinuance of 

 diseases that formerly dismounted whole troops 

 of soldiers, and in the consequent pecuniary 

 saving which they effected to the government. 

 Chemical science has now ascertained, with 

 the utmost exactitude, the atmospherical con- 

 ditions required for the preservation, in a 

 healthy state, of the animal functions, and 

 Lavoisir adduces a striking instance of the 

 sensible malaria of an atmosphere breathed 

 over and over again by a number of animals 

 confined within a limited space. He shows 

 that when the air out of doors contained 

 27 parts of oxygen, and 73 of nitrogen = 100, 

 the air in the lowest ward of the central 

 hospital at Paris, contained 25 parts of oxygen, 

 71 nitrogen, and four of fixed air ==100. 

 Before the play in the theatre of the Tuileries, 

 the air was 27 parts oxygen, 73 nitrogen; 

 towards the termination of the performance, 

 it was 21 parts oxygen, 76^ nitrogen, and 

 2i fixed air. Thus, in the hospital, the oxy- 

 gen, or living principle, had decreased as twenty- 

 one to twenty-seven, or nearly one-fourth. 

 This proves the necessity of having a well-aired 

 stable for the horse, as well as a well-aired 

 house for oneself to live in. "We have fre- 

 quently observed," says Mr. Karkeek, "a 

 kind of balance between the i-espiration and 

 the digestion ; and he who is a careful ob- 

 server of horses in a healthy, as well as in a 

 diseased state, must have noticed that there is 

 a certain balance between the quantity of vital 

 air received into the lungs, and the quantity 

 of food which can be digested in the stomach." 

 Again, "the blood requires pure air as its 



food; the first efiect of tlio air is to remove 

 the carbonic acid, which the venous blood 

 Lakes up in the circulation ; and when this irt 

 ellected, tlie properties of the blood become 

 instantly changed. In the commencement of 

 this process, the air ia the active agent, and 

 removes the carbonic acid from the circula- 

 tion ; but when this ia eflected, the blood then 

 becomes the acting power, and attracts a 

 portion of the atmosphere. The pure air, or 

 at least it ought to be so, then occupies the 

 place of the carbonic acid which ia just re- 

 moved." 



These facts are sufilcient to show the neces- 

 sity of having the stable well-ventilated. In- 

 deed, the principal cause of mango, bad eyes, 

 glanders, grease, swelled legs, and inflamed 

 lungs, witnessed in many horses, is on account 

 of the smallness, and the ill-ventilated state 

 of their stables. A stable, therefore, with a 

 loft over it, should never be less than twelve 

 feet high ; and if it is to contain three 

 horses, it should not be less than twenty, 

 or twenty-two feet long, and fourteen wide. 

 An aperture should be made near the top of 

 the wall opposite the door, to allow the foetid 

 or foul air to escape ; and to admit the fresh 

 and wholesome air, other two holes, of the same 

 size, should be made on each side of the door, 

 at about the height of a foot from the ground. 

 Stables, however, are not, at all times, built 

 in situations where the convenience of a good 

 ventilation can be readily obtained. Where 

 this is the case, the following remarks by Mr. 

 Brett, veterinary surgeon of the 12th Lancers, 

 when in the Manchester barracks, supply 

 some hints. 



" Suppose a stable to be blocked up by other 

 buildings on all sides except at its two ends. 

 In that case I propose to have a large wooden 

 tunnel, two feet square, running the whole 

 length of the stable under the mangers ; and 

 if it should be a double stable, one tunnel 

 under each row of mangers. These conduits 

 are to come through the end walls of the 

 stable, and to be open at both ends on the 

 outside, for the purpose of admitting a thorough 

 draught or body of air through them. This 

 main stream of air is to be equally dispersed 

 about the stable, by means of perpendicular 

 wooden shoots, or chimneys, six inches square, 

 emanating from this main tunnel, one at the 



105 



