GRUNTING. — COUGHING, 44-3 



treatment or surgical interference ; or tliey may be of a perma- 

 nent character, not associated with any active process, not 

 hkely to pass into any developmental change, neither appre- 

 ciably influenced in a durable manner by therapeutic agents, 

 nor of a character susceptible of amelioration or cure by sur- 

 gical interference. 



These latter must all be regarded as constituting unsound- 

 ness, or as indicative of states or conditions constituting un- 

 soundness ; for although they may not at their first appearance, 

 or even afterwards, impair the usefulness of the horse, they 

 certainly detract from his commercial value, and in many 

 instances render him unfit for specific purposes. 



1. Grunting. — The emission of this sound by a horse is 

 often a matter of considerable importance, seeing it is always 

 brought under our notice in making examinations of animals 

 relative to their soundness ; it is also in some a S3rmptom of 

 disease. 



When a horse is suddenly startled, either by being struck or 

 by a feint being made to strike him, or by being rapidly moved 

 into a different position, he may make a rough grunting noise 

 during expiration ; in such a case the animal is said to 

 ' grunt,' or to be a ' grunter.' The emission of this noise may 

 be associated with or dependent on disease of the larynx, or, 

 the larynx being healthy, the sound may be indicative of an 

 abnormal state of the chest. 



In dealing with this noise our chief care is to determine — 

 (a) Whether it is the accompaniment of some acute affec- 

 tion chiefly of the lower air-passages or of the chest- walls ; 

 (h) Whether dependent upon nervous irritability ; (c) Whether 

 we have to regard it as a laryngeal sound unassociated with 

 inflammatory changes. 



As a pure laryngeal sound, unassociated with any affection 

 of the chest or nervous irritability, it ought always to be 

 regarded with suspicion, because, if not of itself constituting 

 unsoundness, it is indicative of a condition the probable result 

 of which is permanent deficiency in respiration. 



2. Coughing. — Cough is the name given to sound mainly pro- 

 duced in the larynx by the forcible expulsion of air from the 

 great air-tube. 



This laryngeal sound is liable to be evoked by direct irrita- 



