52
swollen. On June 14th, A was shot, and buried eight feet beneath the surface of
the ground. Up to the 15bh June 1892, horses C and D have shown no signs of
illness ; also the four or five Sowars' horses, which accompanied the shikár expe-
dition to Dharampore between the 26th of April and May 17th, and which were
exposed to exactly the same influences of season and climate as A, B, and 0,
have remained in good health. This points to the fact, that the disease was con-
tracted from the water of the Pali Hill wells between March 17th and April
14th, but unfortunately owing to the fact of heavy rains having fallen, and the
wells becoming full, the hæmatozoon could not be found to definitely prove
that this was the case, as the previously concentrated water had become so very
highly diluted. There can bo no doubt that A's illness commenced on April
15th, and that the first symptom noticed in B's case was the eruption of the skin.
The question of the skin eruption as a primary symptom in some cases is
dealt with specially elsewhere.
The evidence brought forward in the above mentioned oases, as regards the
well water being the vehicle of the contagium, which entered the system and
produced the disease, is almost conclusive,
6. Overcrowding.—It is very unlikely that overcrowding can in itself have
any influence one way or the other in spreading the disease. It may, however,
in time weaken the animal so subjected, and render them individually more
susceptible, should they at any time be exposed to the contagium. Animals, the
subjects of ' Surra,' have been kept in contact with large numbers of healthy
horses for varying periods, without the disease spreading, as mentioned by
Evans,* when " seventy-seven horses of the 3rd Panjab Cavalry became
affected with Surra at Jutta, from which they all died at Edwardesabad, but did
not communicate the disease to others." Gunn† states that at the time of
the outbreak among the grass-cutters' ponies at Kohat, " no mule belonging
to the mountain battery, nor horse from the Panjab Cavalry became ill of the
disease *
* the ponies stand in the same lines, and partake of the same
grain as the other animals." But one source of danger in overcrowding, is
due to the presence of several kinds of flies, one of which has been mentioned by
previous observers, and called by the natives on the North-Western Frontier the
" burra dhang," and has been frequently observed in these stables ; also a second
variety, the common " cattle fly." These insect pests bite and draw blood from
the animals, and I have often observed the blood trickling down their limbs :
consequently these flies might be the means of conveying the soiled blood, and
thus transmitting the contagium from one animal to another ; the greater the
overcrowding, the shorter the distance for it to be transported; but inoculation
by this means according to Evans, Gunn, Steele and my own observations point
to the fact that it must be very uncommon,
7. Work.
By far the greater number of animals, the subjects of this disease, the oases
of which have been made use of in the foregoing tables, were utilized in the
tram cars, and worked and fed systematically ; in fact each animal performed its
allotted task day by day, and no more. The stabling and every detail which
concerns their management being carefully looked after, much time and
attention being bestowed upon the welfare of the animals, A second series be-
longed to private gentlemen, who rode and drove them, and who interested them-
selves considerably in their animals. A third and fourth series include horses,
principally country-breds, used in licensed vehicles and by the natives in the Konkan
districts. These latter series no doubt were exposed to numerous dangers, by
reason of their having to obtain food and water in whatever locality their
calling may have taken them.
It will therefore be seen, that Surra cases occur among the valuable hunters
and roadsters as well as those belonging to the ghariwalla, and that all are equally
susceptible.
8. Wounds.—The importance of drawing attention to the presence of
abrasions on the surface of the skin will be mentioned later ; at present it is
only necessary to note the causes in the different parts of the digestive tract.
* Evans—page 63,
† Gunn—Op. cit.