TRANSPOET BY SEA AND LAND 921 



poisoning and nausea. Such cases are frequently the prelude 

 to matters more serious. 



The inspection of animals on landing is also of the 

 utmost importance, and should be most thoroughly per- 

 formed, especially those intended for a Eemount Depot. 

 The inspection of foreign cattle on landing in Great Britain 

 is a duty of national importance, and is dealt with in 

 detail on p. 639. 



The Care of Horses after Landing is a matter of supreme 

 moment. It will take the animals as long to regain condi- 

 tion on shore as the journey occupied. If horses have 

 been three weeks at sea they should be at least three weeks 

 being put in condition, and many will require longer. To 

 work them at once is the height of folly, and can only 

 result in laminitis and exhaustion. As to the best method 

 of putting them in condition, the section dealing with this 

 subject may be consulted. 



The Veterinary Duties on board are of the most exacting 

 and harassing kind ; they last the round of the clock. An 

 inspection of every animal on the boat must be made at 

 least three times in the working twelve hours, viz., 6 a.m. 

 to 6 p.m., and a fourth visit should be paid at night. These 

 visits are the means of picking out all cases of sickness as 

 early as possible, and detecting irregularities in stable 

 management of which the most common is the waste of 

 hay in the gangway, and insufficient watering. 



It takes a long time to go round a ship and inspect three 

 or four hundred horses, and one round seems to be hardly 

 completed before the next has to start ; but there is a 

 feeling of security given by these inspections which no 

 inspection by laymen can take the place of. This is the 

 time when the early removal of a case to the upper deck, 

 or other place of fresh air, may be the means of saving 

 life ; a few hours lost in the treatment of a case at sea can 

 never be made good. 



A surgery should be fitted up at either end of the vessel, 

 but very little medicine is required ; what is needed is 

 incessant care and supervision. 



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