396 NEGLECTED COMFORT, &C., OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
placed ; that, in fact, the temperature, the purity of the air, and 
even the light in which animals are dwelling, must all be carefully 
regarded by those who would obtain from them the maximum pro- 
fit. A few facts in illustration of these truths may not, therefore, 
be unserviceable to the farmer. Of the advantages of pure air to 
domestic animals, fresh facts are every year produced, tending to 
shew its importance to their health. It is to this source that is at- 
tributed by medical men the origin of the extensively fatal pulmo- 
nary complaints to which stall-fed cows are subject. In the recent 
“ Report of the Poor Law Commissioners on the Sanatory Condi- 
tion of the Poor,” p. 103, it is remarked : — “ The spread of the 
knowledge of the fact, that animals are subject to typhus, consump- 
tion, and the chief of the train of disorders supposed to be peculi- 
arly human, will, it may be expected, more powerfully direct atten- 
tion to the common means of prevention.” 
The temperature and purity of the atmosphere in which horses 
are kept is a question seldom regarded, or, if considered at all, is 
generally arranged in a way certain to produce ill effects. “ The 
temperature of the stable,” says Professor Youatt, ‘'should, during 
the winter months, never exceed ten degrees above that of the ex- 
ternal air, and during the rest of the year should be as similar to it 
as possible. It is not so generally known as it ought to be, that the 
return to a hot stable is quite as dangerous as the change from a 
heated atmosphere to a cold and biting air. Many a horse that has 
travelled without injury over a bleak country, has been suddenly 
seized with inflammation and fever when he has, immediately at 
the end of his journey, been surrounded with heated and foul air. 
It is the sudden change of temperature, whether from heat to cold 
or from cold to heat, that does the mischief, and yearly destroys a 
multitude of horses. The stable should be as large, compared with 
the number of horses which it is destined to maintain, as circum- 
stances will allow. A stable for six horses should not be less than 
forty feet in length and thirteen or fourteen feet wide. If there be 
no loft above, the inside of the roof should always be plastered, to 
prevent direct currents of air and occasional droppings from broken 
tiles ; and the heated and foul air should escape, and cool and pure 
air be admitted, by elevation of the central tiles, or by large tubes 
carried through the roof, with caps a little above them to prevent 
the beating in of the rain, or by gratings placed high up in the 
walls. These latter apertures should be as far above the horses as 
they can conveniently be placed, by which means all injurious 
draught will be prevented. If there is a loft above the stable, the 
ceiling should be plastered, in order to prevent the foul air from 
penetrating to the hay above, and injuring both its taste and its 
wholesomeness; and no opening should be allowed above the racks 
