912 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



experience condemned them, for it is obvious if a horse 

 is in slings he is simply swinging to and fro with the rolling 

 of the ship, the very thing we wish to avoid. What we 

 want horses to learn on board is to resist the rolling by 

 maintaining a horizontal position, and this is impossible 

 with slings beneath the body. Two per cent, of slings for 

 veterinary purposes are ample. 



Hospitals. — A certain amount of accommodation for the 

 sick is needed, and should be surplus to all their require- 

 ments. The hospital should be situated on the upper deck 

 and consist of stalls and boxes, the stalls having the same 

 measurements as those used for healthy animals, while the 

 boxes may be specially made or improvised by taking away 

 the stall partitions. A comfortable floor can be made for 

 a colic case by means of coir matting, of which plenty 

 should be on board. 



It is well to have two hospitals, one fore and aft, as it 

 will be found more convenient. 



Apart from regular hospital accommodation, care should 

 be taken to provide more stalls than there are horses. This 

 admits of animals being readily moved for any purpose, or 

 for treatment. 



If a modern vessel is employed as a transport and built 

 in bulkheads with watertight doors, such a construction 

 is most convenient for horse ships ; when the doors are 

 open there is a clear air way along the length of the deck 

 fore and aft, which facilitates ventilation and economizes 

 time, as one can walk the whole length instead of having 

 to visit separate compartments communicating by com- 

 panions. 



Gangways. — This leads to a subject of supreme importance 

 on board ship, viz., gangways, or the passage on either side 

 of the vessel towards which the horses' heads are turned, 

 and from which the whole of the work of feeding and 

 looking after them is carried out. 



A gangway should not be less than 3 feet broad, it 

 is usually made 2 feet ; at the ends of the vessel where 

 she narrows the gangways are reduced to about eighteen 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



