No. 4.] DISEASE IN HORSES. 255 



from contagious diseases and from accidents and complica- 

 tions, I think it a conservative estimate that four-fifths of all 

 deaths among horses in rural districts are traceable to mis- 

 takes either in feeding or watering ; and, considering that 

 the majority of such fatalities are preventable by the exercise 

 of care in feeding or watering, the subject under discussion 

 is certainly deserving of most careful consideration. 



Smith, in his work on "Veterinary Hygiene," says, re- 

 garding this subject: "The connection between food and 

 disease as cause and effect is well known. Throughout the 

 whole category of disease-producing causes there is no sim- 

 ple factor which exercises so much influence. The reason of 

 this is not difficult to seek. Men feed their animals as they 

 feed themselves. They are either overfed with highly nutri- 

 tious food, or underfed with material of bad quality ; or the 

 food given is at irregular intervals, badly prepared, or un- 

 suited to the digestive organs of the animal. Another reason 

 for the great importance of the subject of food in relation to 

 disease of the lower animals is that it is one of the three 

 tangible causes we can handle." 



The following is a partial list of the diseases of horses 

 which may arise wholly or in part in connection with an 

 irrational system of alimentation : abortion, heaves, swelled 

 legs, lymphangitis, laminitis, scratches, stomatitis, ptyalism, 

 glossitis, urticaria, choking, impaction of the stomach, gas- 

 tric tympanitis, gastritis, stomach rupture, spasmodic and 

 flatulent colic, intestinal impaction, enteritis, constipation, 

 diarrhoea, dysentery, alimentary calculi, hepatitis and immo- 

 hiliU. Of diseases of the urinary system may be mentioned 

 nephritis, haemaglobinuria, hpematuria and diabetes. 



The subject may be viewed from two different stand- 

 points, — the scientific and the practical. 



Scientific investigation in physiology and chemistry have 

 during recent years brought out many important points 

 relating to the most economical and satisf ictory methods of 

 feeding our farm animals for specific purposes. Among 

 other things, they have taught us that the animal body is 

 composed of organic and inorganic substances, the former 

 consisting of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous constituents, 

 the first particularly abundant in the muscles and similar 



