532 



On Mismanagement of Farm-Horses. 



of which depend life and heaUh. The presence of moisture in 

 the atmosphere does not necessarily reduce its temperature, but 

 appears to modify the action of that temperature, and to render it 

 more hurtful. Moisture also promotes decomposition and facili- 

 tates the transmission of infectious disorders. When conjoined 

 with undue warmth, moisture has a powerfully relaxing effect, 

 and thus prepares the body for the favourable reception of the 

 exciting causes of disease. But when it occurs in connection with 

 cold, it is then that dampness induces its most frequent and serious 

 evils — its power being thus increased tenfold. It abstracts heat 

 and electricity from the body, interferes with the important func- 

 tions of assimilation and secretion, arrests the cutaneous exhala- 

 tions ; and thus gives rise to abnormal changes in the blood, to the 

 retention of effete particles, and to the imperfect renovation of the 

 plasma. Such are the general effects of the conjoined action of 

 cold and wet, and to this conjoined action may be ascribed many 

 of the worst evils of insufficient shelter. 



Shelter may be insufficient, either from the exposed position 

 of pasture-lands or of farm-steadings, or from the faulty con- 

 struction or bad repair of the stables, courts, or sheds, in which 

 animals are housed. The general effects of these different sorts 

 of bad shelter do not however materially differ. It would appear 

 at first sight a very natural supposition that an animal should 

 suffer less when placed in a draught or current of cold air than 

 when completely surrounded by an atmosphere at the same tem- 

 perature ; because in the former case the cold acts only on one 

 particular part of the surface, while in the other it acts upon the 

 whole surface. Experience, however, leads us to a very different 

 conclusion. But, although every one admits the danger of cur- 

 rents, few consider the manner in which they prove injurious. 

 When a healthy animal is placed in a cold atmosphere, the cold, 

 unless very intense, stimulates all the vital functions to increased 

 activity ; the respirations are increased in force and frequency : 

 the inspired air is dense, and hence contains a large quantity of 

 oxygen in proportion to its bulk ; and thus the animal heat and 

 vigour of the circulation are maintained unimpaired. But the 

 case is very different when cold is applied locally by a current of 

 air. The part subjected for some time to its sedative influence 

 becomes bloodless, its functions disturbed, and its secretions 

 arrested. The effects of the cold are not sufficiently extended to 

 induce the necessary reaction ; the balance of the circulation is 

 disturbed, and then inflammation of predisposed parts is the 

 usual consequence. Disease is thus often produced in small and 

 badly constructed stables. These, from being overcrowded, and 

 from want of appliances for efficient ventilation, often become 

 overheated ; and to remedy this evil the doors and windows are 



