412 ROYAL AND CENTRAL SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURE. 
Veterinary science had proceeded thus far, when Dr. Elliotson, 
of London, about ten years ago, published an account of certain 
pathological cases, which he represented as proofs of the trans- 
mission of glanders from the horse to the human being. Not 
long afterwards several similar cases, collected from the hospitals 
of Paris, were communicated to the Royal Academy of Medicine 
by several members of that assembly. An immediate re-action 
took place, and, at the present hour, the opinion, not only that 
glanders is capable of being communicated from one horse to 
another by infection, but also that it can be communicated to the 
human being, and that chronic and acute glanders are but two 
different forms of one and the same disease, is sustained by nu- 
merous partizans, especially among the medical profession. 
The question, therefore, as to the contagiousness of glanders, 
is more than ever mooted among scientific men ; and too much 
praise cannot be bestowed on those who endeavour, by diligent 
research, to decide, or throw some light upon it. M. Jacob, 
with whose zeal you have long been acquainted, was of opinion 
that, in the present state of the point at issue, the publication of 
the results of the experience of a considerable period might not 
be altogether useless. 
According to this gentleman, glanders is a general disease, 
which gives rise to local phenomena, ft is dependent on causes 
which act upon the whole frame, altering the nutritive property, 
and, consequently, the blood. This affection is complex, and 
requires a complex course of treatment. It presents various in- 
dividual peculiarities which it is necessary carefully to observe. 
M. Jacob does not believe in the contagiousness of chronic glan- 
ders ; and his opinion is founded on nearly thirty years’ experi- 
ence, during which time he has seen numerous cases that do not 
permit him to entertain a doubt on this point. He recites several 
of these facts, and then enters into some very proper considera- 
tions with respect to the disastrous consequences, that, if there 
really was any contagion, would result from the common prac- 
tice in regiments, of placing sound horses in the stalls of others 
that have been sent to the infirmary as glandered, and without 
these stalls having been properly cleansed and purified. And, 
lastly, he winds up his Essay by a recital of thirteen experiments 
which he has made with a view to the elucidation of this point. 
Twelve of the horses experimented on were inoculated ; in the 
thirteenth the glandered matter was injected into the tracheal 
artery. Your committee regret much that M. Jacob has not 
stated the length of time that the animals thus experimented on 
remained under the surveillance. A period of ten or twelve days, 
beyond which, with one exception, he gives no account of them. 
