PRACTICAL HINTS ON STABLE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 99 
of stables are built ensures this, but in this country it is usual to 
erect ranges of stabling for troop horses open on both sides, 
through which the wind rushes without let or hindrance; and in 
addition to this mischievous error we find these buildings, as a 
rule, facing to the east and to the west with each side and end 
entirely unprotected. Private stables also usually have an 
eastern or a northern aspect, but these are generally provided 
with shamps or chicks, wherewith to check any undue influx of 
winds. 
Plan of stables—evil effects .—Building stables on this 
erroneous plan, coupled with the injudicious method of ventila¬ 
tion resulting therefrom, are, in my opinion, active agents in 
bringing to maturity those outbreaks amongst horses of the 
virulent type of fevers met with in India; for daily experience 
proves that no great number of animals can possibly preserve 
their health if constantly exposed to sudden changes of tempera¬ 
ture, accompanied by the action of a draught, as the occupants 
of such stables necessarily are whenever a wind may arise. It 
appears to me that horses properly clothed and cared for would 
keep their health much better if in the open air during the preva¬ 
lence of a cold wind than when stabled in such buildings; for, 
though it is true they would be more fully exposed to all 
changes of weather, still, unless picketed under trees, they would 
escape the draughts to which they are subjected in this class of 
building. 
Action of cold .—It is a well-known fact that while a certain 
degree of cold acts as a tonic, and is exhilarating to the system, 
an excess of that agent, if its action be long continued, espe¬ 
cially when in the form of a draught, becomes a most powerful 
and dangerous depressant, lowering the vital energies to a fearful 
extent, and by checking the action of that vast and important 
organ in the economy of life, “ the skin/’ it deranges the work¬ 
ing of the agents of the circulatory and digestive systems, gives 
rise to morbid formation in the thoracic and abdominal viscera, 
and paves the way for attacks of those dire diseases which cause 
such havoc by death at certain periods of the year amongst 
animals in this as well as in other parts of the globe. 
Jjouble stables .—A knowledge of this induces me to point out 
that stables, if double, i.e. open, and with stalls or standing 
places for horses on both sides, should most certainly be located 
on high ground, on a gravelly soil if possible, and in such a 
position as to secure to them a southern and northern aspect; 
they should be lofty and spacious, having thatched roofs, with 
very deep verandahs, running the entire length, on each side of, 
and round the ends of the buildings. 
These verandahs, and the roof of the stable, should be sup- 
