TUBERCULOUS DISEASES OF HORSES IN INDIA. 247 
not under standing orders ; but under the officer in charge, 
who may, as I have known many, not have the slightest horse 
knowledge when appointed to the stud, and they seldom agreed 
with those who had, particularly the veterinary surgeons, of 
whom they were exceedingly jealous. They were even so 
with the late Mr. Morecroft, the superintendent, and this re- 
tarded very much the progress of the breeding of cavalry * 
horses. I was sorry to see Capt. Apperley thinking that he 
too could do without veterinary advice and assistance, which I 
am convinced, by experience, is detrimental to the branch of 
the service to which he belongs, and the interests of the Go- 
vernment in management of the stud department. 1 write 
this with good feeling, as may be seen by the manner I have 
treated the subject. 
The flies, as Mr. Page remarked, are very troublesome in 
an Indian hospital-stable : the use of papers covered with 
varnish of common turpentine would diminish this; when 
maggots do appear in a sore, Ol. Terebinth® very soon 
obliges them to quit it; but in the foot they frequently cause 
an extension of the wound by working under the horn. I 
mention this as a caution. 
The stable-floors in India are only earth, and undrained , 
except a little gutter to carry off the urine; if this is not kept 
clean and the earth very frequently renewed, the stable soon 
becomes very foul ; the use of mootalles or earthen pots, 
over which are placed bamboo gratings, are more objection- 
able still. Now I caution the student intended for India, 
that this is the cause of bursautee more than anything else ; 
for irregular or regular cavalry, or grass-cutters ponies, 
without stables exposed to the climate, are least liable to 
bursautee ; let him ever bear this fact in mind, that in por- 
portion as the stables are clean from this urinous smell and 
well ventilated, so will horses, young or old, be least liable to 
malignant forms of tuberculous disease, which it should be 
his endeavour to prevent rather, than to attempt to cure; in 
which he will be often disappointed. 
* Prom Mr. Hurford’s letter to the late General Gilbert, it would appear 
that “ Bengal stud horses of late years ” had been bred for speedy racers , 
instead of that form of horse best adapted to undergo the privation and 
fatigue of cavalry service. (Vide No. 59, ‘ Veterinarian'' for November, 
1852.) 
