210 
K. KAY. 
contagious diseases; this last to lie entirely separate and nowhere 
connected with the other buildings. 
Feeding. —It would be impossible, if not impracticable, to 
feed fifteen hundred head of horses at one stable on hay and oats 
without preparing; therefore a system has been devised to chop 
the hay and grind the grain, generally using a mixture of corn 
and oats. It is prepared by wetting enough for the hay to take 
up the meal; some companies add salt daily, while others only 
once a week ; each animal is allowed about twenty pounds of 
meal with ten pounds of chopped hay daily; in addition a little 
hay uncut is given in the evening. From my observations, I 
have noticed where salt was least used the animals were more 
subject to colic. I would not, however, say that colic arises from 
the lack of salt, though we know salt has an important office to 
fulfil in the stomach, that of going to form the hydrochloric acid 
of the gastric juice. We also know when a deficiency of gastric 
juice exists, the stomach digestion, or digestion of the albuminoids 
of the food taken in will be diminished, and thus a portion of 
such food is passed off undigested, setting up more or less irrita¬ 
tion as it passes through the digestive tract; Secondly, we know 
the gastric juice acts as an antiseptic, and when deficient in 
quantity allows the food undigested to run on to fermentation,' 
thus adding another factor for the production of colic. Thirdly, 
we know that nature has given that animal a most perfect set of 
grinders or molar teeth, to triturate the food perfectly before 
swallowing it. We have also noticed when that animal draws his 
feed, as hay, from the rack at his leisure, he keeps in better health. 
This is brought about by all the organs and apparatus acting in 
unison; the food well triturated passes slowly through the 
stomach, and the vaso motor nerves of the sympathetic system 
are not overppwered, but allow enough blood to come to the 
peptic glands and manufacture enough gastric juice to fully 
digest the food as well as act the part of an antiseptic. We 
therefore conclude that the artificial or prepared food used is one 
if not the principal cause of so much dyspepsia and colic that is 
so common to our railroad horses. 
Diseases. —The railroad horse is subject to all the known dis- 
