334 THE HORSE. 



to the complaint, that it has been working its way for some weeka 

 at least. Such cases chiefly occur in the training stable, and are 

 due, according to my belief, to the enormous quantity of oats 

 which it is now the fashion to give to colts from the earliest period 

 of their lives, increased to seven and eight feeds a day during the 

 second year. Continued spirit-drinking has precisely the same 

 effect upon the human being, and the harsh stridulous t'^ugh of 

 the confirmed drunkard marks the existence of ulceration of the 

 larynx, in the only way which he will allow it to be displayed, for 

 he is not, like the horse, made to exert his powers of running, 

 whether his wind is good or bad. There is, of course, a consider- 

 able difference between the two diseases, but there is sufficient 

 analogy between them to explain why the stimulus of over-corning 

 should affect the larynx in preference to any other part. It would 

 be difficult to show the connection between the two in any other 

 way, beyond the simple fact that roaring has become general in an 

 exact proportion to the prevalence of the present fashion of feed- 

 ing. The advocates of the plan will say that though the two have 

 come in together, yet it is merely a coincidence, and not a conse- 

 quence the one of the other; but if it can be shown that in man 

 a similar cause produces a similar effect, the argument is strength- 

 ened to such a degree as to be almost unanswerable. But what- 

 ever may be the cause there can be no doubt that the treatment is 

 most troublesome, and often baffles the skill of the most accom- 

 plished veterinarian. Blistering is not so useful as counter-irrita- 

 tion by a seton, which must be inserted in the loose skin beneath 

 the jaw, as close as possible to the larynx. This alone will do 

 much towards the cure, but no pains must be spared to assist its 

 action by a cooling regimen, consisting of bran mashes, and if in 

 the spring or summer, green food, or in the winter, carrots. Corn 

 must be entirely forbidden, and the kidneys should be encouraged 

 to act freely by two or three drachms of nitre given in the mash 

 twice a day. When the case is very intractable, the nitrate of 

 silver may be applied to the part itself by means of a sponge fast- 

 ened to a piece of flexible cane or whalebone. The mouth should 

 then be kept open with the ordinary balling iron, and the sponge 

 rapidly passed to the situation of the top of the larynx, and held 

 there for a second, and then withdrawn. I have succeeded in cur- 

 ing two obstinate cases of chronic laryngitis by this plan, but some 

 little risk is incurred, as in one of them imminent syn)ptoms of 

 suffocation presented themselves, but soon went off. I should not, 

 therefore, recommend the application excepting in cases where all 

 other means have failed, and in which there is reason to believe 

 that the patient is likely to become a permanent roarer or whistler. 

 The nitrate of silver has great power in producing resolution of 

 inflammation il mucous surfaces, and in this diseare little or 



