objects contaminated with manure. The
infective material gains entrance into the colt through the open
umbilical cord as a result of its coming into contact with litter,
floors, or discharges from its dam contaminated by one of the organisms
which cause the trouble. There are cases on record in which the
infection has taken place before birth, and while some investigators
assert that this method is the principal mode of infection still, in a
large number of cases, the prophylactic measures adopted to guard
against the infection through the navel cord have given good results.
Since infection before birth can not be controlled satisfactorily, we
are justified, for all practical purposes, in preventing navel ill by
guarding against the infection through the cord at birth or soon
afterwards.

Cleanliness of stables where pregnant mares are kept must be insisted
upon. This is especially necessary where outbreaks of navel ill have
been known to exist. Mares in the last stages of gestation should be
placed in a box stall which has previously been cleaned and disinfected.
The bedding should be frequently renewed and the external genitals and
neighboring tissues should be kept clean and disinfected with a 2 per
cent solution of carbolic acid or 1 per cent liquor cresolis compositus,
or any other reliable disinfecting agent. Operations for opening
abscesses and removal of afterbirths from cows should not be executed in
the immediate vicinity of mares in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

The foal when dropped should be placed on clean bedding. In any event
the cord of the foal should be washed in a disinfectant solution and
tied at about 1-1/2 inches from the navel with a band or string which
has previously been soaked in a disinfectant solution. With a sharp pair
of scissors the navel cord is then severed about one-half inch below the
band and again disinfected. The ligature should not be tightened,
however, until pulsation of the vessels in the cord has ceased. The
stump of the cord is then painted with strong carbolic-acid solution,
tincture of iodin, or a mixture of equal parts of tincture of iodin and
glycerin. The stump should be washed daily with a disinfectant and
either painted with iodin mixture or carbolic acid or dusted with some
reliable antiseptic healing powder. After five days the parchmentlike
dried stump may be cut off and the navel wound washed with a
disinfectant solution and dusted with powder until healed.