SCARLATINA. 181 



CoifTAGiOTTS^TESS. — With respect to Scarlet Fever in the 

 horse being contagious, I, for mj part, am of opinion that it is 

 not. I have treated more than sixty cases of it, but I never 

 yet treated two cases in the same stable, either at the same 

 time or at any distant interval. The case of the foal which I 

 have mentioned was a most severe one ; and during the whole 

 period of its illness, which was a little over three weeks, it had 

 free access to its dam, and the foal partook of her milk freely 

 at the commencement, but the mare was never in the least 

 disordered. The foal had also free access to other horses, but 

 none of them were disordered in consequence.* 



Treatment. — The extensive practice which I have had in 

 the treatment of this disease has led me to the conviction that 

 the more simple the methods pursued the more likely is the 

 practitioner to succeed in its cure. Everything which can be 

 done sliould he done to support tlie vital power of the patient^ 

 and allay the morlid irritation excited hy the disease. The 

 following are to be regarded as essentials towards effecting 

 this : — 



* I have been led to make tlie above observations from reading a note wbieb 

 is appended to an article in Dr. Copland's Medical Dictionary, wbere tbe Doctor 

 says that he has evidence for the following inferences : — " First — That Scarlatina 

 was originally a disease of the horse ; and that it formerly occurred, and has even 

 recently occm*red, epidemically, or as an epizooty among horses. Secondly — 

 That it was communicated in comparatively modern times from horses to man. 

 Thirdly — That it may be, and has been, communicated also to the dog ;" and 

 further on, he adds, that Mr. Percival has fui-nished him with an additional 

 amount of evidence in support of the above inferences. Now, vd\h all due 

 deference to the above statements, I can only say that I have fm'nished up to 

 the present period the most complete history of Scarlatina in the horse which is 

 extant — that I have paid, at all times, the most carefid attention to its phases 

 and conditions in the above named animal, and that I never yet became acquainted 

 with one solitary fact which would give the least support to the second and third 

 inferences. See Dr. Copland's Medical Dictionary, article " Skin." 



