66 [Assembly 



and of erring and wrongly directed opinions and information, 

 altogether ; all this results in a vast aggregate of loss, direct and 

 indirect. To instance a case in point, in a general way, it may 

 be related that in 1846, a malady broke out, in the summer and 

 fall, among the horses around the city of New-York, and on Long 

 Island. It mostly, or altogether affected horses being depastured. 

 It was called the horse disorder. Nothing reliable was ascer- 

 tained, or has been handed down, of the nature of this disease, its 

 causes, effects, or proper treatment or remedy. About 1,000 

 horses are said to have died in a few weeks. To instance a case, 

 altogether the converse;, in facts and inference, a malady which 

 broke out in France, may be referred to. It occurred in the de- 

 partment of the Somme, among the stabled horses, instead of the 

 horses at grass. No one could make anything of the symptoms, 

 or trace the causes; the animals continued to eat almost to the 

 very bour of their deaths; and all methods of treatment seemed 

 to hasten the latter event. Mons. Renault, of the Veterinary 

 College of Alfortj was directed by the government, to proceed to 

 the district, and examine into and report on the complaint. He 

 discovered, from post mortem examinations, that the blood was 

 in a singularly unhealthy condition; and that apparently from 

 this cause, the liver and other of the viscera, the internal organs, 

 were in a very deranged state. This — the absence of acute symp- 

 toms and pains — and the peculiar manner of the animals deaths, 

 caused him to infer the disease to be in some way connected with 

 improper food. On enquiries being entered into, he ascertained 

 that the hay and other fodder of the whole district had, in the 

 previous season, been gathered and stacked wet, and that it had 

 become black and mouldy. Mons. Renault deemed this fact to 

 constitutionally account for the malady. He publicly explained 

 the reasons and nature of his opinion; pointed out the necessity 

 for at once and entirely discontinuing the use of this fodder; re- 

 commended all bleedings and strong evacuants to be desisted 

 from; and that the best corn and hay should be fed, in modera- 

 tion, and salt used with the food. From that time the malady 

 began to abate and disappear. Herein, then, is contrastedly in- 

 stanced the public services which veterinary institutions can 

 critically furnish, on occasions of epizootic or epidemic disorders^ 



