228 
GLANDERS IN THE HUMAN BEING. 
pearaiices was given, except those of the abdomen, in which respect the 
last autopsy at St. Thomas’s is the only complete one.” 
The learned lecturer concluded with some reflections highly interesting 
to the veterinary practitioner; for human life has far too often been sacri¬ 
ficed, either by the carelessness or foolhardiness of the servant, or the dis¬ 
graceful indifference or recklessness of the master; and tens of thousands 
of horses, more than the public dream of, have been lost from accidental or 
thoughtless exposure to contagion. During the latter part of the last 
winter, glanders became a perfect pest in some parts of the metropolis 
and its neighbourhood. In a very limited district more than two hundred 
horses died. There was nothing peculiar or different in the general manage¬ 
ment ; but the evil was, in several cases, clearly traced to the introduction 
of a glandered horse into the stable, who, in the course of a few months, 
left scarcely a sound or living one there. 
Dr. Elliotson shall speak for himself, although his remarks, very' naturally, 
refer to the human being more than the brute. 
“ A few words, gentlemen, as to the sanitary application of tl>e facts w hich 
are now so prominentl}' before us. The subject is one of the highest public 
importance, and demands the serious consideration of those on whom the 
care of the ptiblic health devolves. The facts peremptorily behove all 
persons w ho have any thing to do with glandered horses, instantly to de¬ 
stroy them, and in all cases to do so, unless a cure be discovered for the 
disease, or some new mode of treatment be proposed. I am told by Mr. 
Youatt, and other veterinary gentlemen, that at least forty-nine out of every 
fifty glandered horses ultimately peri.sh of the disease. Then why suffer 
animals so frightfully dangerous to linger out the remainder of an existence 
which tliey pass so wretchedly, and run the chance of giving the disease to 
other animals and to man? With such evidence before us, every glandered 
horse in the kingdom ought to be killed forthwith, unless it is thought fit to 
institute some new' investigation into the treatment of the disease. Nothing- 
can be more wrong than to keep glandered horses alive for the little work 
which may, in spite of the debilitating effects of the disease, be forced from 
them. Let their owners but reflect for a moment on the multiplied oppor¬ 
tunities which occur for contagion betw een these animals,—the innumera¬ 
ble occasions for smearing w ith the poisonous matter the various parts of 
the stable,—the risk of depositing it on the grass when turned out,—and, 
above all, of giving it to man, who must assuredly perish by it in the most 
dreadful manner, for no remedy is known for it. The effect is aw'ful to me, 
beyond anything that I ever witnessed in disease. Here we may have 
young men in all but perfect health one week,—after acute suffering, offen¬ 
sive discharges, and sores and putrefaction, corpses on the next. I thought 
w hen 1 had seen the fatal cholera that I had w itnessed the acme of sudden 
suffering and death; but the man who is glandered presents a scene quite 
as heart-rending to our view as the cholera patient.” 
TO CORRESPOXDENT.S. 
Communications have been received from ^Mr. Aitken and “A Ye 
TERINARY SURGEON.” 
The Monthly Report is excluded by press of matter. 
