128 THE HORSE. 



be to keep the stables cool and well ventilated, for the hot and poisoned air 

 of low and confined stables is one of the most prevalent causes of 



glanders. . - r 



Next to ventilation stands cleanliness ; for the foul air from the ter- 

 menting litter, and urine and dung-, must not only be highly injurious to 

 health generally, but irritate and predispose to inflammation that delicate 

 membrane, which is the primary seat of the disease. If to this be added 

 regular exercise, and occasional green meat during the summer, and carrots 

 inlhe winter, we shall have stated all that can be done in the way of preven- 

 tion. The farmer's horse in his cool or cold stable, and during the greater 

 part of the year running loose when not at work, would be exempt from 

 o-landers, if, at the market and the fair, he were not so much exposed 

 to contagion. In truth, glanders may be considered as the conse- 

 quence ol" the stabling of the hovse. In South America and in Arabia 

 they are unknown ; but wherever the European plan of stabling has 

 been introduced, glanders have followed in its train: and therefore if 

 any means are resorted to for the cure of glanders, the first, and per- 

 haps the only effectual one would be to remove every exciting cause 

 of the disease ; to restore the horse almost to a state of nature ; to 

 turn him out for a long time, or at least to throw open his stable as much 

 as the season and the weather will permit. Experience, however, tells us, 

 that, although the symptoms have disappeared when the exciting causes of 

 disease have'been removed, and the horse has returned to his stable after a 

 twelvemonth's run apparently sound, every symptom has gradually shewn 

 itself again when these causes have been once more called into action. 



FARCY. 



F\RCY is intimately connected with glanders ; they will run into each 

 other, or their symptoms will mingle together, and before either arrives 

 at its' fatal termination its associate will almost invariably appear. An 

 animal inoculated with the matter of farcy will often be afflicted with 

 glanders, while the matter of glanders will frequently produce farcy. They 

 are different types or stages of the same disease. There is, however, a 

 very material difference in their symptoms and progress, and this most 

 important of all, that while glanders are generally incurable, farcy, m its 

 early stage and mild form, may be successfully treated. 



Veterinary writers tell us that it is a disease of the absorbents in the skin. 

 The small arteries are employed in building up and nourishing the various 

 parts of the body ; and another set of vessels are busied in taking up and car- 

 ry in"- away that which is worn out and useless. There is no part of the body 

 on which thousands of these little tubes do not open. Those of the skin 

 are not only employed in removing useless materials, but in taking up va- 

 rious substances, and principally fluids which may be in contact with the 

 skin. The little vessels which are thus occupied, collect together and form 

 larger branches, which run in company with the superficial veins, and there- 

 fore farcy was once supposed to be a disease of the veins, and the tumours 

 by which it is characterized accompany the course of the veins. The poi- 

 son which they take up produces inflammation in them, which gradually 

 spreads along the absorbent, and causes it to swefl. 



These vessels, small as they are, contain valves, like those in the com- 

 mon pump, which permit the fluid to pass one way, but prevent its return. 

 The inflammation, which pursues the natural course of the fluid through 

 these tubes, that is, towards the reservoir into which it is thrown before it 



