The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

In the Stable, Field, and on the Road. 37
and to fortify nature, for it was a poison, says this writer,
which gave rise to the disorder and was the cause of
fever. Precautions were taken to have all the healthy
horses removed from the infected stables, and they were
not to return to them until they had been fumigated,
whitewashed, and otherwise cleaned. Solleysel desig-
nated it a fievre pestilentrelle, very deadly at its com-
mencement, but afterwards amenable to medical treat-
ment. A catarrhal fever had been epidemic the previous
year. Again, the years 1688 and 1693 were marked by
epidemic influenza and epizootic influenza. In 1712 the
horses of Europe were again attacked with epizootic
influenza, but the records collected are very imperfect.
It was not until the year 1727 that the records notice
the erratic or invasive character of the disease. This
peculiarity is noticed in a chronological history of the
weather and of the prevailing diseases of Dublin, by Mr
John Kutty, M.D., London, 1 770. He says, " In Novem-
ber in Staffordshire and Shropshire horses were suddenly
seized with cough and weakness, disabling them from
work. In December, both in Dublin and the remote
parts of the kingdom, horses were seized with a cough
and shortness of breath, and sometimes sore throat ; some
bled at the nose, others had a large discharge of thick
phlegm from the nose, which, being long-continued, was
salutiferous; some died in the streets, partly through
improper medicine. In 1732 influenza swept over
Europe and North America ; its effect on mankind, and
its progress from place to place, are fully and carefully
recorded." It was also epizootic, as appears from the
following extract from Medical Essays and Observations^