The illustrated horse doctor : $b being an accurate and detailed account of the various diseases to which the equine race are subjectedMayhew, Edward
Science
The illustrated horse doctor : $b being an accurate and detailed account of the various diseases to which the equine race are subjected
Mayhew, Edward
Horses -- Diseases
Glanders is provoked by human depravity. Had people common feeling for the
life over which they are given authority--would they only admit, in its
largeness and its truth, that "the laborer is worthy of his hire"--the
disease might, in one year, become a tradition.
At present the affection exists as the dread of every horse proprietor.
It is highly contagious--all owners of horses know this. The stable may
be scrupulously clean, yet the poison may have been lodged there by the
last inhabitant. It is not only contagious to horses, but it is equally
dangerous to men. Three sad instances of this fact have come to the
author's knowledge. Two respectable gentlemen, moving in good society,
were each contaminated, and both pitiably perished of this terrible
disease. They were no stable-helpers, moving and living among suspicious
beasts, but individuals whose avocations did not oblige them to mix with
horses--gentlemen of professional standing, who were inoculated they
knew not how. Mr. Gowing, of Camden Town, informed the writer, of a boy
who once went from a shop to stand at the head of a pony the master of
which wished to make a purchase. The animal, while the boy was so placed,
cleared its nostrils, and a portion of the ejected matter flew into the
lad's eye. The handkerchief removed the soil, and the accident was soon
forgotten. However, the poor youth was glandered, and became a patient in
the University Hospital.
Such facts sufficiently prove all men have an interest in opposing any
conduct likely to generate so horrible a scourge. Man, as a community, is
answerable for the comfort of every creature intrusted to his charge. He
may refuse to accept the conditions of the trust, but he cannot escape the
responsibility. In proof of the truth of this conclusion, glanders is now
recognized as one of those incurable diseases, generated by neglect, to
which the human being is liable, in every hospital throughout the kingdom.
Why is the legislature behind the medical profession in the extent of its
recognitions? Any man may now, according to law, drive or ride a glandered
animal through the crowded streets of any town in the three kingdoms. He
may, without fear of punishment, endanger the lives of the unsuspecting
wayfarers, whom it is the especial province of the Parliament to protect.
Why should not the glandered stable be detected, and the animals,
dangerously diseased, be slaughtered? Why should any man be allowed to
retain, and openly use as property, that which is perilous to society; and
wherefore should law protect him, when harboring pestilence for the sake
of profit?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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