404 
GLANDERS. 
Report of the Health, &c., of Kensington, for the Four Weeks March 28th 
to April 24th, 1880, by T. Okme Dudfield, M.D., Medical Officer of 
Health. 
On the 3rd March your Vestry requested me to “ report as to 
the number of cases of glanders (in horses) that have occurred 
in this parish during the past six months, and the bearing thereof 
to the public health/'’ A statement had been made to the effect 
that 116 horses suffering from this disease and farcy had been 
slaughtered in Kensington during the period in question, and 
the subject was referred to in Parliament. In my last report I 
stated that the occurrence of glanders in horses appeared not to 
have had any “ bearing on the public health in Kensington, as 
no death had been reported from this disease, or from any cause 
of a suspicious character which on any reasonable ground of 
probability could be traced to the poison of glanders/'’ I stated, 
moreover, that although I was unable to throw much light on 
the subject, as to horses, having been unable to procure any 
information as to the localities in which the disease had existed, 
there was a serious error in the statement that “ 116 horses had 
been slaughtered 33 in Kensington on account of glanders and 
farcy within the period of six months, inasmuch as 44 cases, 
which belonged to Hammersmith, had been included in the 
Kensington list. Of the remaining 72 cases, it appeared that 
26 had occurred in two stables of cab proprietors, leaving only 
46 to be spread over the remainder of the parish. I added that 
should I succeed in getting any additional information, I would 
make a further report. 
The subject being one of considerable importance, and having 
a special interest for your Vestry, I have since ventured to place 
myself in communication with the Metropolitan Board of Works, 
the “ Local Authority 33 under “ The Contagious Diseases (Ani¬ 
mals) Acts,” with the view of ascertaining the actual number of 
horses that had been slaughtered in Kensington on account of 
glanders and farcy, not merely within the “ past six months,” 
but from the beginning of 1879, as a means of testing the 
accuracy of the allegation that there had been a great increase in 
the number of cases reported since the outbreak at Colville Mews, 
and as a result of the prosecutions which followed upon the 
exposure your Vestry's officers had been instrumental in bringing 
about. 
I have now the satisfaction to acknowledge the receipt, this 
