Vol.^LVII. No. 2520 
NEW YORK, MAY 14, 1898. 
$1 PER YEAR. 
THE VETERINARY COLLEGE AT CORNELL 
DISEASES AND TRAITS OF ANIMALS. 
(Concluded.) 
“ Does color in hair signify anything, Dr. Law ? ’’ 
“I have long been of the opinion that the lighter 
colors have the more delicate constitutions. I first 
noticed it in calves—that the dark ones fight their way 
through the “ childhood diseases ” more successfully 
than the light ones. Cities show more of the brunette 
type than does the country,which indicates more hardi¬ 
hood. There seems to be more energy in the pigmented 
skin than in pure blonds. The fair men of the North 
have a counterbalancing agency for their energy, in 
climate. You must remember that the early Italians 
did everything. A Yankee carries everything before 
him in the South, for example, for about two years, 
and then collapses. The white spots on dark animals 
are the weakest spots on the skin. Fagopyrism shows 
first in the white spots, exposed to the sun, after feed¬ 
ing the animal buckwheat, which results in eruptions.” 
“ Are heaves considered in¬ 
fectious ? ” 
“ No, the right heart be¬ 
comes dilated, and the heart 
often kills suddenly.” 
“Do animals ever recover 
from hydrophobia?” 
“Yes, there are recorded in¬ 
stances of such recoveries, 
where they outlive the dis¬ 
ease.” 
“ Do you regard kicking and 
balkiness in horses as forms of 
nervousness ? ” 
“Often, if not always. 
Mares have been entirely 
cured of kicking, and of balk¬ 
iness, by removing the 
ovaries.” 
“ Is cribbing a disease ? ” 
“ That I cannot tell. There 
is a strong probability that it 
is a habit, mere wantonness 
from lack of something to do, 
when confined in the stable. 
If you put a strap about the 
neck with a tack or two 
secured inside, it will tend to 
prevent the exercise of the 
habit. One of the best ways is 
to muzzle so that the teeth can¬ 
not be fixed upon anything.” 
“ Is the influenza from which horses suffer allied to 
la grippe ? ” 
“What the English call influenza the French call 
typhoid fever. It is quite a protean malady. Of 
course, everybody goes crazy on the subject of bacte¬ 
riology. No one can tell as yet the difference between 
the bacillus of typhoid and that of hog cholera. The 
relation between the animal and human influenza is, 
possibly, about the same, but produced by different 
bacilli. The typhoid and cholera bacillus both live 
in the same medium, and are both allied to the condi¬ 
tion of the healthy colon. One might speculate if the 
others are not sports from the healthy germ. The 
same bacilli are found likewise in cows that abort.” 
“ In the use of tuberculin on cows, do not various 
physical conditions affect its operation ?” 
“ Tuberculin injected into cows with calf reacts in¬ 
variably.” 
“ Do you consider tuberculosis hereditary ? ” 
“ Not necessarily. Calves from diseased cows often 
grow up healthy animals, if they live out of doors. 
Tuberculosis in animals is a product of civilization 
chiefly, just as it is in human beings. It oftener at¬ 
tacks cows of small build and heavy buttermakers. 
Common cattle are much freer from it than are pure- 
breds. Texan cattle sold in markets, if not picked 
animals to begin with, are from 2-10 to 1 per cent 
affected with tuberculosis. I have made some tests 
on open-air animals, and found no tuberculosis. I 
have examined carefully herded high-grade cows, and 
found 59 out of 60 infected. In warm climates, where 
cows are kept in stables, as in New Orleans, I have 
found it existing in a marked degree. Mr. Havemeyer 
thought he had a grade of Simmenthals that hadn’t 
tuberculosis, and it is possible that valley had been 
very free from it. But undoubtedly, open-air cattle, 
isolated from tuberculous animals, are free from it. 
Horses that live in the native state, and have never 
been shod, never have hoof ailments.” 
“ Has the legislation bearing upon blacksmiths im¬ 
proved horseshoeing to any extent ? ” 
“ Only in the larger towns. We practically have to 
stand over a blacksmith with a club in order to get 
horses properly shod.” 
“ By the way, what is the function of the fosset—or 
whatever is its name—that hard substance on the 
horses’ legs upon which the hair does not grow ? ” 
“ At first thought, one might take it to be the rudi¬ 
ment of a missing digit, but that it lies above the 
wrist or knee. It is a mass of epithelian cells dis¬ 
posed in cubes like the horn of the hoof wall. The 
horse has a very keen sense of smell, and as there is 
an odor about it, the animal may, as has been sug¬ 
gested, derive some refreshment from smelling of it. 
The English call it chestnut, and the French, chataine. 
The posterior chataines are missing in the ass, and 
very small in the mule.” 
“ To what age do the domestic animals that are well 
cared for usually live ? ” 
“The horse to 40 or 50 years. Cows are killed be¬ 
fore very old age; 20, however, is about the cow’s 
natural limit. Dogs are old at 12, and cats about the 
same.” 
“ Which has the superior brain—the horse or the 
dog ? ” 
“ The dog, I think, owing possibly to its closer as¬ 
sociation with man. One of the most notable things 
about a horse is its memory, which is wonderfully 
exact. You know about the experiment made by Dr. 
Huidekoper in Philadelphia? Adreadful-murder had 
been committed there. The body of a man, hacked in 
pieces, as though chopped with a butcher’s cleaver, 
was found under a bridge out of the city. Suspicion 
fell upon a certain butcher, and obtaining possession 
of this butcher’s horse and cart, Dr. Huidekoper 
started out, giving the horse free rein to do as he 
pleased. The horse moved directly out on the road 
that led over the fatal bridge, and upon reaching it, 
he came to a sudden halt, and neighed, as much as to 
say, ‘This is the very spot.’ Dr. Huidekoper was im¬ 
mensely impressed with the circumstance, and al¬ 
though this testimony of the horse was not admitted 
in court when the butcher was tried—and ultimately, 
I think, convicted—it nevertheless carried with it a 
great deal of influence. The sense of smell in all ani¬ 
mals is much greater than is our own.” 
“ Are glanders always fatal ? ” 
“ Not always. In a high, clear air, horses suffering 
from glanders often recover. Neither are they in¬ 
variably infectious to men, who are less liable to be 
infected than are horses. 
Neither are they by any means 
always fatal to men. A man, 
however, may come out of 
them with a broken constitu¬ 
tion.” 
“ What is the ailment from 
which horses sometimes suffer, 
that is called ‘ moon eye ’ ? 
The moon, I fancy, has no more 
to do with it, than it lias with 
.Sprouting garden seeds.” 
“ Just about as much. ‘Moon 
eye ’ is an inflammation of the 
structure of the eye, and is 
recurrent at irregular inter¬ 
vals—sometimes occurs 
monthly ; it depends upon the 
good or ill conditions for re¬ 
covery.” 
“ What animals are especial¬ 
ly liable to sunstroke ? ” 
“ Horses are, particularly 
when at hard work in a hot 
sun. Also cattle standing in 
open cars, shunted on a siding 
switch, crowded together, are 
quite subject to it, as well as 
cattle in yards which are un¬ 
shaded.” 
“ Do you think it likely that 
hens ever have tuberculosis ? ’ 
“Yes, but a modified type of it, which is not com¬ 
municable to man. Yes, there is a possibility of the 
eggs being infected.” 
“ Is there any way of detecting tuberculosis in the 
milk of infected cows ? ” 
“ Yes, in a test tube, which is a slow method. An¬ 
other way is to inoculate a guinea pig with the milk, 
and then wait six or eight weeks for results. Some¬ 
times we can find out microscopically in the test tube, 
much as in testing for butter; but this is not always 
to be relied upon. Keeping the milk at the boiling 
point for 20 to 30 minutes will, probably, kill all 
bacilli.” 
“ I have lately seen a statement to the effect that, 
of 100 great race horses, 50 were bay, 30 chestnut, 20 
were brown, and that no piebald ever won a great 
race. Does this, if true, indicate that color and speed 
are allied ? ” 
“ It indicates rather, I would say, that bay, chest¬ 
nut and brown are favorite colors, and have been 
more bred and inbred than gray or white.” 
“Why are Kentucky horses so superior?” 
“ Because of the abundance of phosphates in the 
limestone soil they feed upon, and which produce 
A GROUP OF ANGORA GOATS ON A TEXAS RANCH. Fig. 150. See Page 350. 
