652 
DISEASE OF OSSEOUS TISSUE IN THE HORSE. 
this paper, and which, like many of the preceding, will be 
more interrogatory than assertive in their nature. It was 
thought that the mares were exempt from this disease, and 
up to the time of writing the history of these cases, they 
appeared to be so; not one having died, or shown the 
slightest indication of the affection. It is, however, very 
singular that I have just received from Mr. Wallin a com¬ 
munication, in which he states that one of Mr. Champion’s 
mares has lately shown symptoms analogous to those 
exhibited by the horses when labouring under the disease 
in its early stages. These symptoms are so very slight, 
he observes, that he cannot at present assert that the 
malady will prove to be of the same nature. Should it 
not, and the singular fact remain, that it was wholly con¬ 
fined to the horses, it will be an interesting question for 
the physiological pathologist to solve, why such should be 
the case. The mares, we are informed, were about the 
same age as the horses; but they had each had foals. 
Now, can it be possible that pregnancy had anything 
to do in preserving the system against the development 
of such a disease? Or is there any peculiarity in the 
sexes, from which a clue can be obtained to account for 
such phenomena ? 
W e see, by referring to the answers to the questions pro¬ 
pounded, that no case occurred on the other farm, about two 
miles off, although the horses were fed in the same way as 
those affected. This may be the case, but, were all the other 
circumstances precisely the same ? Had they more exercise 
or less? Was the water they partook of the same in cha¬ 
racter, namely, very soft? 
I think it not a very far-fetched idea to suppose that the 
v T ant of ^xercise could possibly induce some of the changes 
the boneSv have undergone; and may not the continual 
use of soft water, and the kind of food on which the animals 
lived, also take some share in the production of the disease? 
If it can be shown that on the other farm, and where no 
case occurred, that the young horses, as a rule, had more 
exercise than those on the farm where the disease took place, 
and that the water they drank was hard —spring w r ater, then 
I think we ought to attach some importance to such facts. 
We are told that the horses on both farms were fed in the 
same way. Now, it is possible that the hay, and perhaps 
also the other kinds of food on which they were fed, as 
well as the land where no disease took place, were of that 
character which contained more lime than was the case 
on the other farm. 
