ROARING. 161 



Well. We have seen the larynx, and that portion of the windpipe imme.- 

 dialely beneath it, flattened, and bent, and twisted in the strangest way, 

 which could not have been produced by disease, but by mechanical 

 injury alone. The mischief is usually done with young horses. The 

 arched neck and elevated head of the carriage-horse is an unnatural posi- 

 tion, from which the animal most habituated to it is eager to be relieved- 

 Horse-breakers, and coachmen, and carters, should be made to understand, 

 that when the horse's head is first confined by the bearing-rein, great gen- 

 tleness, and care, and caution, are necessary. Injury must be done if the 

 throat be violently pressed upon, and especially when it is exposed to addi- 

 tional danger, from the impatience of the animal, unused to control, and suf- 

 fering pain. The head of the riding-horse is gradually brought to its proper 

 place by the hands of the teacher, who skilfully increases, or relaxes the pres- 

 sure, and humours and plays with the mouth ; but the poor carriage-horse is 

 confined by a rein that never slackens, and his nose is bent in at the expense 

 of the larynx and windpipe, and the injury is materially increased, if the 

 head be not naturally well set on, or if the neck be thick, or the jaws narrow. 



The shape of the larynx and windpipe will occasionally be altered, if 

 they be thus squeezed between the jaws, and the bones of the neck ; or the 

 muscles which expand the opening into the windpipe for the purpose of 

 natural breathing, and especially of quick or hurried breathing, will be so 

 compressed, that they will be incapable of full action, and by degrees will 

 lose the power of action, even when not pressed upon, and, in fact, become 

 palsied ; and therefore, the opening not being sufficiently enlarged during 

 the rapid breathing of the animal, moving with speed, the air will rush 

 violently through the diminished aperture, and the sound termed roaring 

 will be produced. 



It is a common opinion that crib- biting frequently terminates in roaring. 

 There is nothing in crib-biting that can possibly lead to roaring ; but there 

 is a method adopted to cure crib-biting, than which nothing can be more 

 likely to produce it : we mean the straps which are so tightly buckled round 

 the upper part of the neck, and which must compress, and sometimes distort 

 or paralyze the larynx. 



The habit of coughing a horse, to ascertain the state of his wind, is an 

 occasional cause of roaring. The larynx or trachea is violently and pain- 

 fully squeezed in this operation; and the violence being often repeated, 

 inflammation and injury may ensue. 



The treatment of roaring is very unsatisfactory. If we have been correct 

 in our account of the natui'e and cause of the disease, a cure seems to be 

 perfectly out of the question. If it arise from a distorted larynx, there is 

 no mechanical contrivance that can restore the natural and perfect struct- 

 ure ; if from a band or ring of lymph diminishing the size of the passage, 

 we know not by what means that can be removed ; or if the muscles of the 

 larynx be palsied, we know not the stimulus that can rouse them again to 

 action, or the manner in which that stimulus is to be applied. 



In the early stage of the disease, whether it proceed from violent pressure 

 on the part by improper curbing, or be connected with, or consequent on 

 catarrh or strangles, or the enlargement of some neighbouring part, inflam- 

 mation will be present, and we shall be justified in having recourse to those 

 measures which will abate inflammation. Bleeding will not be improper 

 if roaring is the consequence of previous disease ; it will be indispensable, 

 if it be connected with present disease of the chest. The degree to which 

 the bleeding should be carried will depend on the degree of general or local 

 inflammation. To bleeding should succeed purging, and to this, medicines 

 ihat will lessen the force of the circulation — as nitre, emetic-tartar, and 



