MILITARY HYGIE^'E 991 



Marking Army Horses. — From what has been said it 

 requires no effort of imagination to understand how im- 

 possible it becomes to identify horses after they have once 

 left their regiments, and been filtering up and down the 

 line, passing from regiments to hospitals, from hospitals to 

 remount depots, and so back to regiments. Every army 

 animal bears a number branded on its foot ; this brand may 

 last three months or longer, depending upon its position on 

 the wall ; month by month it grows more indistinct until 

 finally it is impossible to recognise, and equally impossible 

 to replace. On service there is often no fuel, more frequently 

 no branding irons, and when both exist no time even if the 

 number were known. It takes a long time to brand four or 

 five figures on the feet of even fifty horses, and in a large 

 hospital or remount depot would require a special staff for 

 this work alone. 



The army number of every horse and mule can be put 

 on for once and all at the time of purchase, and rendered 

 permanent for life, by the simple process of tattooing it on 

 the gum above the upper incisor teeth. In fact, on this 

 place can be placed all that is necessary to know of any 

 army animal, viz., its number, age at purchase, and year 

 of purchase, for example : — 



17694—4—01 



gives us at once the army number of the horse, his age, and 

 his length of service. 



During time of war, when horses are being purchased in 

 half a dozen different countries, a prefix letter previously 

 agreed upon, would indicate whether the animal came from 

 Eussia or Hungary, America or Australia, and will also 

 determine the name of the purchaser. 



An expert hand can tattoo the figures in a few minutes, 

 the gum being rendered insensitive by tinctare of aconite ; 

 or they can be made by means of an instrument. 



Finally, by the above system not only is the identity of 

 a horse never lost, but in the event of it being stolen no 

 question of ownership can arise. In the case of private 

 animals the name of the owner can be put on. 

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