72 Stable Management and the Prevention of Disease 



Predisposing and Exciting Causes. 



In a majority of instances the ground upon which the horses 

 were standing was of a porous nature, allowing the urine to 

 soak into it and give off the effluvia resulting from decom- 

 position. In other instances, the drinking water, when not 

 from tanks, was from impure wells, and carried sometimes 

 along pipes underneath roads where the downward curve of 

 the pipe was found to be half filled with putrid mud. 



No doubt horses may be — and often are — subjected to aU 

 the above-mentioned deleterious influences without becoming 

 affected with anthrax ; but it is certain that exposure to such 

 influences greatly predisposes them to become affected when- 

 ever they come in contact with the disease-germs. 



We see human beings live in fair health for years, while 

 eating unwholesome food, drinking impure water, or breathing 

 air filled with emanations from animal excreta; but when 

 subjected to the influence of the germs of various epizootic 

 diseases, it is well known that those who have been living in 

 such a state fall sick in far greater proportions than those 

 who have lived upon pure air, food, and water. 



How TO Stop its Spread. 

 When anthrax appears in a regiment or battery, the follow- 

 ing steps should at once be taken to prevent its spread : 



1. Picket all the horses upon ground at least a hundred 

 yards from the stables, and remove them to a new spot every 

 two or three days, or whenever a new case of disease occurs. 

 When suitable ground can be procured within a convenient 

 distance, it is well to take them in the first instance com- 

 pletely away from the garrison. (By the above measures the 

 horses will be prevented from breathing the emanations of 

 decomposing urine arising from the ground in which they 

 have been stabled, and will run little risk of inhaling the 

 disease-germs given off by the animals attacked, or which 

 may be in their mucous discharges or excreta.) 



2. Change the drinking-water if there is the slightest 

 reason to suspect its purity. 



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