XXVI. 



and found that it neutralised, or at any rate diminished, the effects of animal 

 poisons. A striking experiment was made with the muco-purulent discharge 

 from a glandered horse. Forty-five grains were injected into the thigh veins 

 of two strong dogs, one of which for several days previously had received 

 two drachms of sulphite of sodium daily. Both became drowsy and panted, 

 but the one protected by the previous administration of the sulphite, although 

 at first seeming to suffer most from the injection, was in a few hours able to eat, 

 and was next day in tolerable health. The other, however, became more drowsy, 

 and stood with difficulty. By the third day the limb was tender ; by the 

 fourth, mortification set in ; and the animal died on the sixth." The 

 importance of these experiments cannot well be over-estimated. 



The fact then appears that in the cases of foot-and-mouth disease and 

 anthrax, animals can in many instances be largely protected against invasion 

 by the influence of certain drugs. It must not be supposed that these 

 measures are always effectual in preventing the onset of these diseases ; but 

 il has been abundantly proved that in many cases at any rate they are 

 of great value. 



Talking of the prevention of disease, let us here just discuss very briefly 

 the causes of disease. 



Perhaps the most important of all is the general inattention to hygienic 

 laws. In former times, there was great neglect of sanitation ; but now, 

 owing to the preventive measures of better and more careful management, 

 all diseases have become less common. In the case of the horse, those 

 which are doubtless due to the multiplication of germs in the blood and 

 tissues, and we include among these strangles, influenza, glanders, farcy, 

 purpura, horse-pox, and anthrax; as well as many other diseases in all 

 animals, are most probably largely on the decrease in this country. There 

 is now more attention to drainage, and the general laws of hygiene are more 

 carefully attended to, than was the case in earlier times. 



However, just as all other progress is marked by more or less 

 rhythmical waves, so also in the case of diseases, periods characterised by 

 outbreaks of exceptional intensity and virulence alternate with seasons 

 marked by epidemics of less extent and diminished severity. At certain 

 times, glanders becomes more prevalent among horses, and afterwards it 

 again makes its appearance more rarely. When a contagious disease breaks 

 out in great severity, or when it occurs with more than ordinary frequency, as 

 a rule, the cause or causes can be found. Some flagrant hygienic fault or 

 omission, or the importation of diseases from abroad, is generally at the root 

 of outbreaks of disease among stock. Still the average number of cases 

 which have occurred annually during the last five or six years, is much less 

 than in past times. This is no doubt largely due to the injunctions ordered 

 by the Contagious Diseases (Animals') Act ; but, did not our regard for 

 cleanliness and hygiene alike progress, such laws would have but a 

 temporary value. 



A knowledge of the causes of disease is of primary value to owners of 

 stock. We often hear that so-and-so has had a "run of bad luck." This, 



