K. F. HENSINGER 
178 
Doctor—'‘I—I—sure, sur—I—like lie had the distimper—a 
running at the nose and mouth like.” 
The captain smiled, and sending for his cashier, said: 
“ Mr. Steel, pay off the new horse doctor; he won’t do.” 
I do not venture to say that the previous mentioned doctors 
were any better or worse than Capt. Leib’s, but one of them de¬ 
clared that no glandered horse could be found in the whole army ; 
still, among the condemned ones which were sold about a week 
or two later at auction in Cincinnati, at least one third were af¬ 
fected with the disease. The speculative purchasers thought that 
they were dealing with distemper, and expected soon to be master 
of the disease, and calculated with all confidence upon the multipli¬ 
cation of their investment. Only too often it has happened that 
one or more of their healthy horses were inoculated with the dis¬ 
ease, and died before it came to the turn of the pernicious U. S. 
C. horse. The loss that the United States suffered is unlimited. 
If the government would have had the condemned horses exam¬ 
ined by a competent veterinary surgeon, and the incurable and 
suspected destroyed, which any intelligent individual wotild have 
done, the country’s debt to-day would be considerably less. More¬ 
over the heavy losses horseowners sustained by their stock being 
infected by these condemned horses, cannot be estimated. Besides 
we woidd have obviated the reproach that we unfeelingly exposed 
the innocent animals to their fate. 
It lies in the interest of the agricultural societies, and in the 
authority of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals—in 
fact it is the duty of every individual interested in the general 
welfare of man and beast, to divert his attention toward the con¬ 
struction of laws that, when applied, will serve to prevent a re¬ 
currence of tins error. By urging this purpose we would secure 
protection to both life and property. Who would refuse his as¬ 
sistance ? Surely no one who remembers the stagnation of busi¬ 
ness at the time the epizootic influenza prevailed among horses. 
I am aware, however, that several regiments are provided 
witli veterinary surgeous appointed by the Secretary of War. 
This highly esteemed officer, Mr. McCrary, present incumbent 
of this important office, fulfils his duties most scrupulously, but 
