,5 



lewing figures from the returns of the Board of Agriculture for Great Britain 

 are very interesting : ' ' . 



■1898 ,. . . . ^,385 horses destroyed 



1899 ..-. . ' ..;.,. 1,472 " " 



1900 ;>. ; 1,858 



1901 2,370 



1902 ..2,673 



^903 • ...2,499 



1904 , 2,628 



It is not, however, necessary, to go to Gre.at Britain .for prpof of i the 

 •folly of ignoring the contact horse. Similar object lessons are furnisTied by 

 the conditions prevailing in more than one district in Canada, and while, of 

 .course, I cannot pire^ume to speak authoritatively on these matters, I feel con- 

 fident that in some of the United States of America Glandersis rapidly increas- 

 ing Owing to this cause. / ' , 



The evil is greatly intensified by the fact that, where the proper author- 

 -■ities are inert," private testing of infecited studs is continually going on, the 



reactors beirig subsequently sold as expeditiously as possible. , Prominent . 



veterinarians. in Great Britain credit these private Mallein tests, conducted by 

 •tjnscrupulous owners through, equally unscrupulous' practitiO|ners, with the, 

 -notoriously rapid spread of the disease in that country during recent years. 



The. same thing is undoubtedly true in America, and here let me point out 

 .another condition which, taken in conjunction with the private test; constitutes , 

 ,.an additional and very important factor in the spread of Glanders, 



I refer to the great facility with which, in these modern days of cheap 



steam transportation, horses may be moved in large numbers from place , to 

 4>Iace. 



while, especially in communities where mixed husbandry ' prevails, , 

 "danders may never obtain a foothold, because^ in these districts hordes from a 

 -distance are, with' perhaps the exception of valuable and generally healthy 

 'l>reeding stock, but seldom- introduced, I wbyld remind you that the great 



fluctuations in the valile of horse flesh' during the decade just past have 

 fjrought about the movement of large num'bers of these animals from one 

 •«listrict to another, and that Glanders has, beyond doubt, been extensively 

 •spread by this means. ' 



Perhaps the most dangerous agents in.thtis disseminating Glanders are the 

 -r..estern range horses, which, during the last ten years, have been distributed 

 ■iv large numbers through the country. Glanders on the range exists to a, con- 

 siderable extent in a latent and often very mild form, but it rapidly develops 



when tbe animals are broken, stabled and put to work. Many of the most 



widespread and most serious outbreaks with which we in Canada 'have. had to 



deal tre directly traceable, to importations of range horses, Mallein is, of 

 .course, seldoiji vised, on the range btit it is a common thing for ownersto shodt 



down any, clinical ca^es they, may notice, the others, showing no symptoms, 

 4|>eing sold as healthy, with the result above-mentioned. 



