84: DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



eases admits of cure. That obstruction in some part of tlie respiratory 

 canal, which varies in almost every horse, and produces the peculiar 

 sound termed roaring^ is also rarely removed. There are as many degrees 

 or intonations of roaring, as there are notes on the gamut ; and those 

 notes ascend from piano to forte. This renders it diflBcult in some slight 

 cases to decide positively whether a horse is a roarer or not ; and good 

 judges may be mistaken. The state of the animal very frequently oc- 

 casions an impediment to an accurate decision; if he be in very ple- 

 thoric condition, he will not unfrequently give slight indications of 

 roaring; but when he is divested of that superabundance of fat, all the 

 disagreeable symptoms disappear. The usual test of startling the ani- 

 mal, is by no means an infallible criterion, neither is the stethoscope in 

 all cases to be relied upon. There is but one positive mode of determ- 

 ining the question ; the animal being in a proper condition, he must be 

 ridden and tried in all his paces. With stallions this proof is not often 

 practicable ; and unless they are badly affected, it is often impossible to 

 prove that they are roarers. 



Glanders, the most destructive of all the diseases to which the horse is 

 exposed, is the consequence of hreathinrf the atmosphere of foul and viti- 

 ated stables. It is the winding up of almost every other disease, and 

 in every stage it is most contagious. Its most prominent symptoms 

 are a small but constant discharge of sticky matter from the nose ; an 

 enlargement and induration of the glands beneath and within the lower 

 jaw, on one or both sides, and, before the termination of the disease, 

 chancrous inflammation of the nostril on the same side with the en- 

 larged gland. Its contagiousness should never be forgotten, for if a glan- 

 dered horse is once introduced into a stable, almost every inhabitant of 

 that stable will sooner or later become infected and die. 



If some persons underrate the danger, it is because the disease may 

 remain unrecognized in the infected horse for some months, or even 

 years, and therefore, when it appeai-s, it is attributed to other causes, or 

 to after-inoculation. No glandered horse should be employed on any 

 farm, nor should a glandered horse be permitted to work on any road, 

 or even to pasture on any field. He should be destroyed. 



In a v>rell settled case of glanders it is not worth while, except byway 

 of experiment at a veterinary school, to attempt any remedies. The 

 chances of cure are too remote, and the danger of infection too great. 



The contagious nature of glanders is very well known, and not only 

 is it so with regard to the horse, but it is capable of being communica- 

 ted to the human being ; and, indeed, there have been very many deaths 

 from this cause, and most horrible deaths they are. It is generally by 

 means of some cut or abrasion which comes in contact with the gland- 

 ered matter that the infection is communicated. The utmost caution 

 should therefore be exercised by the attendants; and it is most unpar- 

 donable to keep glandered horses any length of time for the sake of 

 their work; and we are scarcely justified in tampering long with them 

 under the idea of eflecting a cure, when the cases are decidedly gland- 

 ered. 



The urinary and genital organs are also lined by mucous membranes. 

 The horse is subject to inflammation of the kidneys from eating musty 



