GLANDERS AND FARCY. . 533 



and that the second term is applied to it when the principal mani- 

 festation 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 Eqxius 

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

 the cat, the rabbit, and the guinea pig. It is transmitted with diffi- 

 culty to sheep and goats, and cattle seem to be entirely immune. It 

 runs a variable course and usually produces the death of the animal 

 affected with it. It is characterized by the formation of neoplasms, 

 or nodules, of connective tissue, which degenerate into ulcers, from 

 which exude a peculiar discharge. It is accompanied by a variable 

 amount of fever, according to the rapidity of its course. It is sub- 

 ject to various complications of the lymphatic glands, of the lungs, 

 of the testicles, of the internal organs, and of the subcutaneous con- 

 nective 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 Constantine the Great, described this dis- 

 ease with considerable accuracy and recognized the contagiousness of 

 its character. Another Greek veterinarian, Vegetius Eenatus, who 

 lived in the time of Theodosius (381 A. D.), described, under the 

 name of Malleus humidus, a disease of the horse characterized by a 

 nasal discharge and accompanied by superficial ulcers. He recog- 

 nized the contagious properties of the discharge of the external ulcers, 

 and recommended that all animals sick with the disease should be 

 separated at once with the greatest care from the others, and should 

 be pastured in separate fields for fear the other animals should become 

 affected. 



In 1682 SoUysel, the stable master of Louis XIV, published an 

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

 each other, although he did not recognize them ^s identical. He 

 admitted the existence of a virus which communicated the disease 

 from an infected animal to a sound one. He called special attention 

 to the feed troughs and water buckets as' being the media of conta- 

 gion. He divided glanders into two forms — one malignant and con- 

 tagious and the other benign — and he stated that there was always 

 danger of infection. 



Garsault, in 1746, 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 



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