515 



Definition.— het it be understood at the outset that glanders and farcy- 

 arc one and the same disease, dilieriug only in that the first term is 

 applied to the disease -when the local lesions predominate in the internal 

 organs, especially in the lungs and the air tubes ; and that the second 

 term is applied to it when the principal manifestation is an outbreak of 

 the lesions on the exterior or skin of the animal. The term glanders 

 applies to the disease in both forms, while the term farcy is limited to the 

 visible appearance of external trouble only ; but in the latter case 

 internal lesions always exist, although they may not be evident. 



Glanders is a contagious constitutional disease of the genus cquus 

 (the horse, ass, and mule), readily communicable to man, sheep, goats, 

 to dog, the cat, the rabbit, and Guinea pig. It runs a variable course 

 until it produces the death of the animal affected with it. It is 

 characterized by the formation of neoplasms of connective tissue, or 

 tubercles which degenerate into ulcers from which exudes a peculiar 

 discharge. It is accompanied by a variable amouut of fever according 

 to the rapidity of its course. It is subject to various complications of 

 the lymphatic glands, of the hmgs, of the testicles, of the internal 

 organs, and of the subcutaneous connective tissue. 



History. — Glanders is one of the oldest diseases of which we have 

 definite knowledge in the history of medicine. Absyrtus, the Greek 

 veterinarian in the army of Coustantinc the Great, described this dis- 

 ease with considerable accuracy^ and recognized the contagiousness of 

 its character. Another Greek veteriuarian, Yegetius Eenatus, who 

 lived in the time of Theodosius (3S1 A. D.), described under the name 

 of malleus humidus, a disease of the horse characterized by a nasal dis- 

 charge and accompanied by superficial ulcers. He recognized the con- 

 tagious properties of the discharge of the external ulcers, and recom- 

 mended that all animals sick with the disease should be separated at 

 once with the greatest care from the others, and should bo pastured in 

 separate fields for fear the other animals should become affected. 



In 1GS2 Sollysel, the stable mas:er of Louis XIV, i>ublished an ac- 

 count of glanders and farcy, which he considered closely related to 

 each other, although he did not recognize them as identical. He ad- 

 mitted the existence of a virus which communicated the disease from 

 an infected animal to a sound one. lie called special attention to the 

 fe; d-troughs and water-buckets as being the medium of contagion. He 

 divided glanders into two forms, one malignant and contagious, and the 

 other benign, and he stated that there was always danger of infection. 



Garsault, in 1740, said " that as this disease is communicated very 

 easily, and can infect in a very short time a prodigious number of horses 

 by means of the discharges which may be licked up, animals infected 

 with glanders should be destroyed." 



Bourgelat, the founder of veterinary schools, in his " Elements of Hip- 

 piatary," published in 1755, establishes glanders as a virulent disease. 

 Extensive outbreaks of glanders are described as prevailing in the 



