MISCELLANEA. 
507 
horses into each stable; but the lowness of the ceiling, and the 
deficiency of apertures for the supply of air were so great, com¬ 
pared with such a number of horses, that, in order to avoid the 
most infectious diseases, it has been necessary to leave the doors 
and windows open day and night,—an expedient which, while 
it may preserve the greater number of them, will inevitably de¬ 
stroy some. 
“ The floor is formed of pebbles, and many of them of the 
smallest size. The urine is easily absorbed through the spaces 
between them, and so perfect is this infiltration, that not a drop 
of fluid runs or is swept out of the stable. Many pails of this 
fluid are consequently imbibed by the soil, or, evaporating, mix 
with the atmosphere of the stables. 
“ The horses nearly touching each other, the floor is always 
wet, and the emanations from this focus of infection are such 
as no animal can possibly bear, unless the windows are always 
open. 
‘^Applications have been made to the competent authorities to 
lessen the number of horses in each stable, and to let four only 
occupy the room now taken up by five, an alteration acknow¬ 
ledged to be necessary, and which has already been granted in 
many of the cavalry barracks. The authorities refused us, say¬ 
ing, that a man of talent who had constructed the stables, had as¬ 
signed one metre as the proper space to be occupied by one horse, 
and that the old stalls must be occupied. 
It may, perhaps, be thought that these stables have been 
many years constructed—alas, no! they have just been built— 
some of them are not yet finished. 
“ Since, then, a commission has been at last appointed, and at- 
• tention has been directed to the subject, let us hope that no delay 
will take place, for these ill-constructed buildings are costing 
France more than a thousand francs a day. Especially let it 
not be forgotten, that reform on two points is absolutely indispen¬ 
sable. 
“ One, and which draws after it no expense, is the diminution 
of the number of horses in each stable in proportion to the 
height of the roof, the quality of the soil, and the apertures for 
ventilation; and this, which would vary considerably in different 
stables, to he entrusted, not to these men of talent—not to the 
usual inspectors, but to veterinary surgeons, and the council of 
administration in the various corps, who alone are competent to 
the task. The other improvement, and which cannot be too 
much insisted upon, is to repair the pavement of the stables, and 
to fill up with cement the spaces between the pebbles, and par¬ 
ticularly at the places where the urine falls, and thus to render it 
