The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1873-03-20
Another Horse Disease.

DuTIUp ine last lew weeks, says tue ~
Y. Journnt, Of Commerce, the owners OF
valuable roadsters in Brooklyn and New
York have been startled bv The appear
ance OF disease among their horses which
renders them Incapable Of their usual
work. The disease first manitests itscl! by
the signs of the disease are visible. The
horses attached to every kind of vehicle
are limping along the streets with
their legs swathed in banda.es The alb
seuce of 6ne horses is everywhere remark
ed. The owners of livery stables refuse
to let out teams except regular customers
Sick horses are seen in front Of nearly all
the cars. 10 auSwer 20 the question,
What is it z" tie veterinarians answer.
Scratches" The keepers Of the private
horses say it is caused by the salt on the
railroad tracks.
The driver on a Fulton avenue car.
with his throat muffiel, attributed his Sc
we're cold to standing over the briny track
He said that about two hundred Of the
horses bad the disease. At the stables
on Fulton avenue an inspection was made.
showing the stables clean, with traces of
carbolic acid on the floors. About four
hundred aud fifty horses are kept there !;
fifteen were on the sick list and two in
hospital with scratches" The surgeon
in charge was examining every team that
came iD. Men were busy with buckets
of warm water and CASTLE soap washing
the legs and fetlocks of the horses In
reply to an inquiry the surgeon said -
Its something we have all the year
round-more in winter than 10 summer.
and we fud the best treatment is to thor
oughly wash all the salt, dust, sand and
from their legs with warm water
and CASTLE soap. hen dry them we'll
First among the symptoms we notice a
dryness about the fetIock Then the skin
cracks and a thin yellow matter is dis
charged In bad cases it affects the leg
causing swelling, and may run up to the
hip. OF course, then we must lay the
horse up. 10 bad eases, after washin"
clean, we put on an ointment of equal
parts of sweet oil, sweet spirits of nitre
and balsam copaiba. If the animal is
i%everish we have saltpe,re to cool the
blood"
Ia the corner of this stable was a large
bin, partly filled with clear white ~cryral>
of salt The disease is said to last about
two weeks.
Visits were next made to private stables
Horses valued at $4,000. $1,000 and $4,000
each, attended By grooms, were seen suf
fering terribly with the disease. Some
of them coGld hardly stand, and limped
badly when leo from the stalls. The thick
matter was running from the fet
ln two cases the hoofs had be
loose aud were falling off.
The general impression among the
horse owners in Brooklyn appears to be
hat the disease is caused principally hy
the animals over the tracks while
there is a deposit of salt and snow on
hem, by letting them stand while warm
from fast driving with the cold water and
on their legs, and by the carelessness
of grooms in not properly washing and
the animals when they have re
to the stables. Men of exneri
ence say that warm oil meal poultices are
better than the railroad prescription given
above. but horses will have the scratches.
20 matter how much care is taken of
hem. They all have a strong prejuice
against the saiting of the tracks, but use
their horses on tho line of the railroads
because they can make better time.
There still remains the fact that the
and SNOW mixture is OF a temperature
averaging y to % degrees. below that of
snow water. People who step in it while
to the cars have their leet chilled
sometimes frozen. Horses standing
u 1t have their feet frozen. Miles of
streets which have been sailed after a
storm are converted into lakes of
freezing liquid several inches 10 depth,
crossed by pedestrians at the risk Of
nealth, and, as physicians say, at the risk
If life,