ON STAGGERS IN HORSES. 
]3 
year. It is a veterinary curiosity, as containing the opinion, 
ibur-and-thirty years ago, of a careful observer and sound prac¬ 
titioner, respecting (at that time) one of the most murderous 
epidemics to which the horse was subject. The paper and the 
writing bear about them sufficient marks of age. The communi¬ 
cation is otherwise exceedingly valuable].— Edit. 
Various have been the opinions entertained with respect to 
the cause of the disease here treated on, and, among them, the 
most prevailing one was, that the food was the cause. It is certain 
-that, on inspection of the dead body, the stomach is always 
found full; but there will not be found such a degree of disten¬ 
tion as to cause any interruption of its functions. I think the 
food has a very small share, if any, in the production of the dis¬ 
ease, as it most certainly affects horses of every description, .and 
under every circumstance of diet; and also of rest or work. I am 
led to believe that it proceeds from some morbid atmospheric 
cause, which most likely we shall never be acquainted with; for, 
since the years 1786-7, the disease has occurred but very 
rarely till the last year, 1800, when it again made its appearance 
about the middle of June, proving generally fatal, and occurring 
very frequently till the latter end of November, when it began 
gradually to disappear. 
It appears from experience, that horses which are or have 
been on after pasture, in a season when the disease is prevalent, 
are affected with it perhaps more frequently than in any other 
situation; which, most likely, is the reason why (as an article of 
food) a fine succulent state of herbage is looked to as a cause. 
But it must be remembered that in the year 1800 not a blade of 
grass was to he seen from the hay-time till the beginning of Sep¬ 
tember, and the disease occurred during that time more fre¬ 
quently than at any time after. 
No publication* which I have ever read conveys to me any 
thing like an accurate, clear description of the disease. I shall, 
therefore, attempt to describe its symptoms just as they appear 
to me. 
According to my observation, it is ushered in by a degree of 
languor and loss of appetite: the vessels of the conjunctiva in 
the early stages appear rather empty; and it, as well as the lips 
and mouth, assumes a dirty, straw-coloured appearance, which, 
as the disease proceeds, acquires a deep saffion tinge. The 
mouth emits a faint fetid smell, and is generally covered with a 
white clammy froth. The pulse, in the early stages, is not dis- 
Sec l^rclWcr- 
