412 DADDS VETERINARY MEDICINE AND >3URGER . 



Strangles is supposed to be a disease to which all horses aw 

 subject once in their lives, yet Mr. Pekofvall contends thai 

 many horses escape the disease. Hence, if many escape, it if very 

 natural for those who know the value of pure air, natural food, 

 and exercise to conclude that the colt, while enjoying these great 

 luxuries in the open air, by the side of its mother, guided 1 j her 

 euj)eriur instinct, is not liable to be attacked with a disease "vhinn, 

 as alrea<ly stated, we believe to result from depriving aniu als of 

 tho.5e blessings which Nature has in store for them in thcii unre- 

 strained state. But it often happens that young colts, aft' r run- 

 ning a season with their mother, partaking of the invig rating 

 country air, grow up to be strong and robust, and then the period 

 arrives fCr weaning them. How changed the scene! Ins1-ad of 

 being permitted to gambol in their native element, they ar^ con- 

 fined to a small space, not large enough to swing a cat roun \ i*nd 

 perhaps as dark as the grave ; and the animal, after fretting for a 

 season, and making unsuccessful efforts to escape from its prison- 

 house, tamely submits to the discipline, not, however, until he has 

 cut alid bruised and otherwise injured himself. I was called, a 

 short time ago, to visit a young colt that had lacerated his heaJ, 

 breast, and fore-legs in a most shocking manner, in making an 

 attempt to escape through a window from the horrors of confine- 

 ment. His companion? were about a dozen cows, more calculated 

 to alarm and render his position a perilous one than otherwise; 

 and the impure atmosphere, rendered sc by the emanations from 

 the excrements and from the lungs of his companions, was a source 

 of great mischief. Then, who can blame such an one for attempt- 

 ing to escape and regain liberty ? If strangles should appear in 

 such a subject, it would not be surprising. 



Then, again, take a colt from its mother, whose milk contains 

 all the elements for sustaining life and developing the organization 

 of the young subject, and place it upon a diet of hay or like innu^ 

 tritious trash, a whole truss of which would not afford one-half 

 the quantity of nutriment contained in a quart of its mother's 

 milk. However profitable and well-adapted hay may be for stock 

 of mature growth and powerful digestive organs, it is a sad mis- 

 take to suppose that it will do for the young. A case of this kind 

 eume under my observation last year. The subject, aged two and 

 a half years, died in a state of marasmus (a gradual wasting of the 

 systen without any apparent disease)^ A posl mortem examina- 



