CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 75 



not contagious in the ordinary acceptance of the term, i.e., 

 directly from animal to animal, but it is microbial, and its 

 menace lies in our ignorance of the life history of the causal 

 agent, and in its incurability. A young officer of the E.A.V.C. 

 has separated an organism from the optic nerve, and inocu- 

 lations of cultures have produced the disease. Moreover, 

 growth of the organism on broth emits the most pungent 

 stable smell, which makes me think that investigation is on 

 the right track. It is to be hoped that correct issue will 

 follow investigation because, as I have previously explained, 

 before a contagious or specific disease can be successfully 

 tackled and suppressed, the strategy and tactics of the 

 enemy in all his subtlety and insidiousness must be fully 

 known. We are at a disadvantage when this is not so. 



It is an interesting fact in regard to this disease that 

 animals on becoming stone blind grow fat. Perhaps it is a 

 case of " what the eye never sees, the heart never grieves," 

 or it may be a physiological process of the same nature as 

 the fattening of ducks in a dark cellar. Certainly some of 

 our best horses in France were blind, and at a Horse Show 

 on Lines of Communication a pair of blind horses was 

 awarded first prize as the best wagon team. Blind horses 

 could be employed in certain units in forward areas, but as 

 a rule they were afraid of gunfire. The sadness of it was 

 that so many otherwise splendid young horses were victims. 



Bespiratory Disease and Sea Voyages. The purchase of 

 Eemounts, particularly young horses, and their transportation 

 by land and sea inevitably leads to outbreaks of disease of a 

 respiratory nature — Strangles in the young, Catarrhal Fevers 

 and Pneumonias of the Influenzal type in all. And unless the 

 utmost care is taken in selection, in separation of sick, and 

 in the movement only of those that are fit and well, loss 

 will be heavy. Horses are delicate creatures in a matter of 

 Influenza or Catarrhal Fevers. They die very readily. 



In the United States of America — a country of stock yards, 

 the liability to " Stockyard fever '' which is a respiratory 

 disease of an influenzal nature, is very great. Over 70 per 

 cent, of animals purchased were reputed to have contracted 

 Catarrhal Fever in varying degree, and though I have no 



