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

In the Stable, Field, and on the Uoad. 43
he had ample time and opportunity of studying, during
the period it affected the King of Denmark's stallions.
This epizootic did not reach England, or if it did, we can
find no record of it. For the year 1797 Fleming writes,
" Influenza was very severe in New York and Philadel-
phia, and over a large tract of that Continent; at the same
time there was a great mortality among the horses in
Maryland." During the prevalence of epidemic influenza
in 1803 all kinds of domestic animals seem to have
been affected with unusual diseases, but it is impossible,
in the annals of influenza (pp. 213—215) to find good
evidence of epizootic influenza among horses. In Mr.
Barlow's remarks occurs the following statement in
regard to influenza among horses, " It reappeared again
among horses very extensively and severely in 1815.'
John Field, of London, records the remarkable preva-
lence of the disease in 1819 and 1823, since that time
and up to the present, we find many records of its
occurrence in the Veterinarian. It is singular that
although of late years scarcely twelve consecutive
months have passed without many cases being observed,
yet at intervals of four years influenza seems to give us
a specially severe visitation. Thus it is noticed by
Wilkinson in 1815, by Field in 1819 and 1823, by
Percival in 1828, 1832, 1840, and 1844. Many remember
it in 1848 and still better in 1852. Thus, excepting an
interval of five years from 1823 to 1828, we can trace
its periods of aggravation in four-year circles from 1815
to the present time.
Having given the history of influenza at some length
to show that it is no disease, I will now proceed to the