208 CAUSES OF GLANDERS IN CAVALRY HORSES. 
Fere, the horses were cleaned in the stable all the year round ; 
they were watered from buckets containing barley meal, all currents 
of air were avoided by closing every door and window on one side 
when the weather was hot, and on both when it was wet and 
cold ; the horses had on body-clothes when taken to the forge to be 
shod or cleaned, whatever might be the time of year ; the wisp 
used for cleaning was never wetted ; the horses were rubbed down 
on coming in from exercise, unsaddled, and then clothed. 
Green meat and mashes are injurious in many cases, especially 
to horses of a lymphatic temperament. The atmosphere of la Fere 
and its environs is generally moist, predisposing to relaxation of 
the organs; we therefore suppressed these two substitutions, and 
throughout the year the regimental horses had a whole ration of 
oats. The consequence has been, that they have enjoyed ever 
since our residence at la Fere a most satisfactory state of health. 
It is by pursuing this course of hygienic treatment that in the 
year 1844 this regiment obtained the first place among the fourteen 
artillery regiments and the six squadrons of waggon train as 
having lost the fewest horses ; and that, too, at a garrison where 
all the preceding regiments had lost so many. 
After what has been stated, there can be no danger in drawing 
the inference, that too much reliance has been placed upon the im- 
proved arrangement of cavalry stables as a prevention against 
glanders. The altered construction of stables, which admits of the 
horses being kept separate, of giving them more room, of making 
them eat their oats separately, is productive of the best results in 
those regiments where the hygienic treatment is otherwise good ; 
but I am convinced that the full benefit of all these ameliorations 
will never be experienced until a ministerial order is issued to cause 
the cavalry to clean their horses in doors all the year round. 
In support of what I have advanced, I must state that the garri- 
sons of Thionville, Luxembourg, Sarreguemines, Sarrebruck, Metz, 
and Sarrelouis, are almost upon an equality as regards hygienic 
conditions, climate, soil, and the quality of the fodder; nevertheless, 
the relative amounts of their annual losses from glanders are very 
different. Thus, the regiments stationed at Sarrebruck, Sarrelouis, 
and Luxembourg lose scarcely any horses from glanders ; while 
those which are at Thionville, Metz, and Sarreguemines suffer 
greatly every year from the ravages of this disease. 
Wishing to convince myself what could be the cause of so great 
a difference in the amount of loss sustained by regiments so 
similarly situated, I visited each of the first mentioned garrisons 
in October 1842, and was enabled to convince myself that the 
exercise was the most laborious in France, the fodder was not of 
the best quality, and that at Luxembourg, the regiment of Lancers 
