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168
drawn from the standposts, direct into a pail attached to each
vehicle.
I dealt fully with the subject of glanders in several of my
monthly reports in 1879—under circumstances which, at the
present time, are worth recalling. The facts, as summarized
from my third and fourth reports for that year, are as follows
In the month of March, 1879, a female child, aged 15 months, died of
glanders in a room over a stable in a private mews at North Kensington, the
premises being so constructed that the air of the living rooms became contaminated
by that of the unventilated stable, with which the family had no concern excepting
from the health point of view. Upon enquiry I found that a sister of the deceased,
aged 18 years, had been removed to St. Mary's Hospital suffering from the same
disease, and I also ascertained that glanders had existed for many weeks in the
stables. Ten horses had been removed : some had died, others had been killed,
and the remainder had been conveyed alive through the streets to the knacker's.
Three were ill at the date of my first visit, one of them with farcy. I gave notice
of the disease to the Privy Council Veterinary Department, to the Metropolitan
Board of Works (Local Authority under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act,
1878), and to the Police. The Board ordered three of the remaining horses to be
destroyed at once, and two more subsequently. I reported the death of the child
to the Coroner for Western Middlesex, who, however, did not deem it necessary to
hold an inquest; but the late Dr. Hardwicke, the Coroner for Central Middlesex,
to whom I reported the death of the other sufferer, at St. Mary's Hospital,
appreciating the gravity of the occurrences, decided to hold an inquest. At this
enquiry, at which the Privy Council and the Local Authority were represented, I
was enabled to elicit, from unwilling witnesses, facts which made a deep impression
on the public mind. It was proved that the law had been violated in
several respects: e.g., (1) Notice of horses affected with glanders or farcy had not
been given to the police. (2) Glandered horses had not been kept separate from
horses in health. (3) Glandered horses had been exposed on public highways
and thoroughfares. (4) Carcases of glandered horses had not been buried or
destroyed. (5) Carcases of glandered horses had been removed to a knacker's
premises at Wandsworth without authority. (6) Dung had been exposed and removed,
contrary to the Animals Order of 1879. (7) Glandered and other horses
in considerable numbers had been slaughtered on premises in an adjoining Mews,
thus "establishing anew," without authority, "the business of a knacker." It was
further proved that the Wandsworth knacker had received more than eighty dead
horses from the dealer who had purchased the glandered horses, and who, according
to the evidence, had been killing three or four horses weekly, on an average, for
some time. It seemed to me that the facts of the case would have justified a verdict
of manslaughter against the proprietor of the stables. The jury, however, taking
a merciful view of the case, and the man having been a heavy loser, contented