54 
THE CAUSES OF GLANDERS AND FARCY. 
Of no other people can it be said that, in the construction of the 
stables, attention may be paid to the economical distribution of 
the ground, and the regularity of the buildings, and the beauty 
of the whole as a coup d’ceil, but no regard is directed to the 
comfort or the health of the noble animal that is to inhabit them, 
but every inch of ground is measured with a parsimony revolt- 
ing to all who love this most useful and noblest of animals, and 
ruinous to the state. 
I could cite a thousand proofs of the little thought which ar- 
chitects and which government bestows on an object of such 
paramount importance. I will cite one instance, comparatively 
trifling in its nature, but which was well known to me, and will 
speak for the rest. A corner of a stable, dark and damp, was 
undeniably unhealthy, and several horses that had stood in it 
had become glandered. More than one application was made 
to the presiding officer to remedy the evil, which might have 
been easily effected. He was entreated to open a window in it, 
if he would do nothing more. He raised a thousand objections, 
sometimes of one kind, and sometimes of another. He replied, 
at last, that the frequent appearance of glanders there was the 
result of contagion, and, at length, when driven from that hold, 
he assumed another ground, and from which he could not be 
driven — that the required alteration would destroy the symmetry 
of the building. 
At length, the instances of disease became so numerous, and 
so many horses were lost, that he was forced to yield ; the wall 
was pierced, a window was opened ; the symmetry of the build- 
ing was a little deranged, in the eyes of artists at least ; but we 
did not lose any more horses. 
The regiment to which I have the honour to belong was at 
that time in garrison at Beauvais. We experienced many losses 
from farcy and glanders, as the regiments that had preceded us 
had done. In 1828, the destruction was so great among the 
horses of the Guard-Royal, that a commission was appointed, by 
order of the minister of war, to inquire into the circumstances 
which rendered glanders of such frequent occurrence at Beau- 
vais. The commission attributed the loss of horses to a great 
many causes, as will always be the case when it does not con- 
tain a person sufficiently decided to probe the evil to the bottom 
at once. The hay was said to be bad, the first quality not being 
so good as the second in the neighbourhood of the Seine ; the 
water was not drinkable ; and, finally, the stables were narrow, 
especially those that had two ranks of stalls ; they were low, 
badly situated, and not well ventilated. 
The report being delivered, we were ordered to be more strict 
