MALADIE DU COIT. 
447 
Since quarantining, three affected mares have died, and nine 
have been killed by agreement. All but two of the affected stal¬ 
lions (XV and XIY) have died or been killed, and the two re¬ 
maining ones, owned by J. Fisher, are kept in Clinton, where 
their movements can readily be followed. 
I firmly believe that we now have the disease fully under con¬ 
trol in Illinois, and that all we now need is to permanently fix 
our grasp. 
Fortunately most of the affected mares are dead, and there 
now remains twenty-one affected in De Witt, one in Piatt and one 
in Peoria County. Some of these mares are so badly affected as 
to be comparatively worthless, others are in moderate, while others 
are in good condition and apparently perfectly sound, and with 
this latter class rests the greatest danger of renewal of the losses 
of the past two years. The history of the disease in foreign 
countries repeats the warning over and over: Hever under any 
consideration allow a mare affected with equine syphilis to be 
bred again. 
The failure to heed this warning evidently explains the fact 
that wherever the disease broke out once, it was very likely to 
reappear three to six years later, through the over-confidence of 
the owner of an apparently recovered and perfectly sound mare, 
by again breeding her to a stallion. Hence, at whatever labor or 
cost, all affected mares should either be killed or held rigidly in 
quarantine and confined to the townships where found and where 
stallion owners are acquainted with the disease. 
Killing is certainly preferable, wherever it can be readily done, 
otherwise years of careful watching and supervision must ensue. 
As to the exposed mares which have not at any time shown any 
signs of the disease, I would recommend that they be released 
from quarantine two years after them last breeding to an affected 
stallion, after the following evidence is produced : first, the certifi¬ 
cate of a perfectly reliable veterinary surgeon that he has made a 
careful personal inspection, and that he believes the mare perfectly 
free from equine syphilis; second, an affidavit by the owner, 
identifying the mare, giving a history of her breeding for 1885, 
1886 and 1887, and affirming that to the best of his knowledge 
she has never shown any signs of equine syphilis. 
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