580 
DISINFECTION OF STABLES. 
these adjuncts to health. In a former number of The VETERINA- 
RIAN you drew attention to this subject when comparing the 
qualities of the various disinfectants, and you there recommended 
the impure sulphate of lime as a cheap article for strewing over 
the pavement of stables, which is a most beneficial practice. We 
constantly find stables which, under any circumstances of ventila- 
tion, are impure. This generally arises from defective drainage, 
for the want of which the urine soaks through the stones into the 
soil unto saturation, and then constantly sends up its noisome 
fumes. Drainage is of the greatest importance, and this is a sub- 
ject which appears to me generally very little understood, and 
usually very much neglected : hence the difficulty which at times 
arises of maintaining a sufficiently pure atmosphere consistent 
with the necessary healthy warmth of stables. It has struck me 
that it might be advisable, as an adjunct to good drainage (or even 
in the absence of it), to lay down a bed of peat charcoal on the im- 
pure sulphate of lime — say one or two feet thick — and principally 
towards the rear of the stalls, upon which the stones could be im- 
bedded in mortar. With these precautions it would take a consi- 
derable time before the disinfectant would be thoroughly saturated, 
but still the evil day (if the drainage were neglected) would arrive. 
I am quite convinced, if people who lay out their property in 
horses would only consider their own interest, they would take the 
most efficient means of draining and ventilating their stables, and 
that the expense would be very soon repaid in the health of their 
horses, and by the great saving of litter. But I fear that the vete- 
rinary practitioner would not get so much to do. When the 11th 
Hussars were quartered in Hounslow, in 1848 and 1849, the stables 
were all repaved ; and in some of them, on lifting the stones, the 
stench was so horrible as to be perfectly insupportable, the soil 
proving saturated to about two feet in depth. Quick lime was 
strewed in the stable, and all the doors and windows left open, and 
the place vacated for some days, before the workmen could proceed 
with their work. We may well conceive how disease may be 
generated from such fruitful sources : and what took place in those 
stables happens in thousands. How frequently do we hear of a 
certain set of stables being considered unhealthy, although pos- 
sessing the same means of ventilation as the rest ; and these stables 
will often be found to have an offensive impure smell, although 
perhaps absolutely cold. This arises from the defective drainage, 
and shews that the attention of owners of horses cannot be more 
usefully directed than to this point. 
Norwich Barracks, 17th Sep. 1850. 
