VETERINARY BIOGRAPHY. 197 



Varicose. — The enlarged vein on the hock-joint, 

 caused by bog and blood-spavin. (See Spavins and Tu- 

 mors.) 



Venesection. — Bleeding by opening a vein. 



Ventilation. — Few persons are aware of the vast 

 importance of pure, fresh air, in the maintenance of health, 

 and the prevention of disease, in both man and beast. 

 However necessary pure air is in health, it is still more so 

 to an animal when sick from fever and disease ; and indeed 

 there are diseases in which no treatment can or will be 

 successful, no matter how well they may be treated, 

 without pure fresh air and cold water to drink. Show 

 me a badly ventilated stable or barn, and I will show 

 you in the spring of each year horses fevered and dis- 

 eased. (See Disinfectants.) Coughs, colds, lung fever, 

 influenza, grease, scratches, farcy and glanders, are the 

 results of bad ventilation. 



Who has not heard with horror of the Black Hole at 

 Calcutta, in which one hundred and forty-six men were 

 confined for a few hours without ventilation, and only 

 twenty-three survived the short confinement. Horses con- 

 fined only for a few hours without ventilation, as was the 

 case in two military expeditions sent out by England — 

 one to Quiberon, and the other to Varna, in which the 

 hatches of the ships were put down, and only for a short 

 time, but sufiicient to produce glanders in almost every 

 horse so confined. Hence, it will be perceived that, with- 

 out good ventilation, a high standard of general health 

 cannot be maintained very long. 



Veterinary Biography. 



The increased facilities for receiving and transmitting 

 intelligence to and from all parts of the world, make it 



