No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS. 539 



These figures show an increase of cases reported as dis* 

 eased or suspicious over 1896 of 101, or of actual cases killed 

 of 61. In last year's report it was said that there was an 

 increase in 1896 over the cases in 1895, and this was attrib- 

 uted in part or Avhole to a better understanding of the law 

 requiriug all persons to report suspected cases to local boards 

 of health, and requiring these boards in turn to report to the 

 Board of Cattle Commissioners. But without any better 

 understanding of the law the number of animals reported 

 this year is much greater than last, and by no means repre- 

 sents all the cases that occur, as many horses are killed by 

 owners who do not wish to have it known that the disease 

 exists in their stables, and therefore they do not report it to 

 the local board of health ; and in some instances doubtless 

 local boards of health are remiss in reporting cases to the 

 Board of Cattle Commissioners if a horse is killed with the 

 consent of the owner. 



There is no doubt concerning the increase of glanders, 

 and this being the case, it must be considered by what 

 means this malady extends itself. 



Glanders and farcy are one and the same disease, and it 

 has long been acknowledged that it spreads by means of a 

 germ which may be conveyed from horse to horse by one 

 animal coming in immediate contact with another, by the 

 virus being conveyed from one horse to another by means 

 of curry-combs, brushes, harness and the like, by a healthy 

 horse occupying a stall used by a diseased one, and in sim- 

 ilar ways. But to account for its marked and in some ways 

 mysterious increase the past two or three years, there must 

 be another factor besides horses rubbing noses on the street, 

 infected stables, and unprincipled traders in old, worn-out 

 horses ; and this factor must be the public watering troughs 

 in our cities and towns ; this was the opinion of the Board, 

 as given in its report of two years ago, again last year and 

 reiterated this year. 



The reported cases of glanders were, in 1894, 230 ; in 

 1895, 250; in 1896, 384; and in 1897, 485; that is, the 

 cases reported have more than doubled in the past three 

 years, and it is probable that some of this increase is due to 

 the public watering troughs. 



