CATTLE AND HORSE INSURANCE. 669 
Mr. PERCIVALL gives the following brief but interesting ac- 
count of the treatment of the cavalry horse : — 
1st. What is the average length of life in horses 1 
This must of course depend on the uses they are put to, the 
hazards they are exposed to, and the regimen they are subjected 
to. I do not know that breed or species, in the abstract, has much 
influence. The ages of the horses of my regiment run from 3 to 
22 years, and our average of age is 8 years. It is a rare occur- 
rence, even with us, for horses to die of old age ; and a still rarer 
one, perhaps, in general or ordinary employ. The great majority 
of horses die prematurely ; most of them from disease ; many from 
accidental causes ; and many from various causes are slaughtered. 
7th QUESTION. — What are the most prevalent diseases 1 
Among young horses, diseases of the air-passages and lungs. 
Among adult horses, diseases of the bowels. 
Among aged horses, diseases of the brain. 
8th Question. — What are the most fatal ones 1 
Certain diseases of the lungs, bowels, and brain, which may be 
named. 
9th Query — -To what diseases are young horses particularly 
subject 1 
To catarrh, strangles, bronchitis, pneumonia, pleurisy, hydro- 
thorax (and Paraplegia !) 
10th. — Under or above what ages should we not insure for ? 
The most critical period of a horse’s lifetime is from 3 to 5. 
Mr. PRITCHARD gives the following brief account of the treat- 
ment of horses in his practice : — 
1. Horses used for agriculture are generally disposed of in their 
old age. An average of their life would be about 17 years, con- 
sequently their mortality must be 1 in 17 annually; but, for the 
purpose of your inquiry, I should say the loss of horses to the 
farmer is not more on an average than 1 in 30, where veterinary 
surgeons are employed; shoeing-smiths, however, and all kinds of 
horse-doctors, attend upon and destroy the horses of the farmers. 
2. Horses employed in draught upon the roads, and such pur- 
poses as canal boats, I find, from a calculation taken annually for 
several years from 163 horses, that the average period they can 
work is 15 years ; that the waggon horses annually diminish in 
value £5.. 10s. per head, and the boat horses £7.. 10s., and that 
lameness principally removes them from their employment. 
3. 4, 5. Carriage-horses and hunters are in their prime from 7 
to 12. These horses are generally incapacitated by lameness, and 
are found finishing their labours in the coach, omnibus, or other 
employment of draught, where they continue together 3 or 4 years 
on an average. Far the greater number are destroyed by the 
knacker, and not by disease : were it not for various accidents, 
