19f> INQUIRY INTO A DISEASE OF THE HORSE. 
by themselves , are capable of affording nutriment but for a 
limited period, and to a very inadequate degree, and that 
animals fed upon them, even in considerable rations , in the end 
die. 
May not similar consequences arise when animals for a 
long time are abundantly and almost exclusively fed upon 
artificial fodder and grain containing only albumen and fat ] 
Is it not such feeding, all but changeless, that engenders disease 
and renders it incurable when produced ] I believe it is. 
What, in fact, do we observe during the course of the disease } 
Sero-albuminous effusions into the cellular tissue of the most 
dependent parts, into the sheath and limbs, and sometimes even 
into the anterior chamber of the eye. 
What do we find after death 1 Sero-albuminous collections 
into the pericardium, the peritoneum, and the deep cellular 
tissues enveloping the vessels. 
In what parts of the country do we meet with the disease 1 
In those in which artificial forage is especially grown, and on 
farms wherein a large cultivation affords the most liberal rations. 
So that I think we may come to the conclusion, 1st. That 
artificial leguminous fodder, containing no fibrine, but, in lieu, 
supplying albumen and fat, tend to degenerate ( denature ?) the 
normal constitution of the blood, and to produce an alteration 
of it. 
2dly. That the blood, thus altered, no longer furnishes for 
the nutrition of the organic solids and the various secretions, 
but two materials capable of supporting the animal system, 
such animal nutrition affording cause for the gravity and in¬ 
curability of disease. 
Hard or Fatiguing Work imposed on horses fed on the 
diet in question accelerates the approach of disease. Under 
such circumstances, it is easy to imagine that the painful and 
sustained muscular contractions which such horses endure 
consume the globules and fibrine of the blood, and thus tend to 
the production of disease. 
Impure Water. —On many farms horses are forced to drink 
Out of ponds the water of which is> from various causes, un¬ 
wholesome. Such water, drunk in summer, when it is warm, 
and black or green, or highly impregnate, becomes the vehicle 
into the organism of septic matters which, absorbed and taken 
into the blood, produce septic alterations in it. 
Unhealthy Stabling. —The heated, impure, and infected 
air horses breathe who live in stables with low basements, or 
which are confined and badly ventilated, produces the same 
effects as unwholesome water. The air> rendered unfit lor 
