182 
GEO. G. VAN MATER. 
however, if either parent has ever suffered. Thus, a mare may 
have borne a number of sound foals, and then fallen a victim to 
this malady, and all foals subsequently born have likewise suf¬ 
fered. So with the stallion. Reynal even quotes the disease 
appearing in alternate generations, the stallion offspring of blind 
parents remaining sound through life and yet begetting foals 
which furnish numerous victims of recurrent ophthalmia. On 
the contrary, the offspring of diseased parents, removed to high, 
dry regions and furnished with wholesome, nourishing rations 
will nearly all escape. Hence some dealers take colts that are 
still sound, or have suffered from but one attack, from the affected 
section of country to the unaffected with confidence that they 
will escape. Yet the hereditary taint is so strong and pernicious 
that intelligent horsemen everywhere refuse to breed from either 
horse or mare that has once suffered from recurrent ophthalmia. 
The French government studs not only reject all unsound stal¬ 
lions, but refuse service to any mare that has suffered with her 
eyes. It is this avoidance of the hereditary predisposition more 
than anything else that has reduced the formerly wide prev¬ 
alence of this disease in the European countries generally. A 
consideration for the future of our horses will demand the disuse 
of all sires that are unlicensed, and the refusal of any license to 
any sire which has suffered from this or any other communi¬ 
cable constitutional disease. Other contributing causes deserve 
passing mention : Unwholesome food and a faulty, method of 
feeding undoubtedly predisposes to the disease and in the same 
district the carefully fed will escape in far larger proportion than 
those poorly fed. But it is the same as with every other condi¬ 
tion which undermines the general health. The presence of 
worms in the intestines, overwork and debilitating diseases and 
causes of every kind weaken the vitality and lay the system 
more open to the attack. Thierry, long years ago, showed that the 
improvement of close, low, dark, damp stables, where the disease 
had previously prevailed, practically banished this affection. 
Whatever contributes to strength and vigor is protective. That 
is trite, but extremely applicable under this head. Whatever 
