CllEONIC COUGH. 29o 



otlier. That it is caused by glanders can be easily imagined, because that 

 disease is, in its early stage, seated in or near the principal air-passages, 

 and little time passes before the lungs become affected. It is the necessary 

 attendant of thick-^vind and broken- wind, for these proceed from altera- 

 tions of the structure of the lungs. 



ISTotwithstanding the clearness of the cause, the cure is not so evident. 

 If a harsh hollow cough is accompanied by a staring coat and the 

 appearance of worms, a few worm-balls may expel these parasites, and 

 remove the irritation of the intestinal canal. If it proceeds from irrita- 

 biUty of the aii^-passages — which will be discovered by the horse coughing 

 after di-inking, or when he first goes out of the stable in the morning, or 

 by his occasionally snorting out thick mucus from the nose — medicines 

 may be given, and soixietimes with advantage, to diminish irritation^ gene- 

 rally. Small doses of belladonna, or tartar emetic, and nitre, admini.stered 

 every night, frequently have a beneficial effect. These balls shovild, if 

 necessary, be regularly given for a considerable time ; they are sufficiently 

 powerful to quiet slight excitement of this kind, but not to nauseate the 

 horse, or interfere with his food or his work. A bHster, extending from 

 the root of one ear to that of the other, taking in the whole of the chan- 

 nel, and reaching six or eight inches do^vn the windpipe, has been tried, 

 and often with good effect, on the supposition that tlie irritation may exist 

 in the fauces or the larynx. The blister has sometimes been extended 

 througli the whole coui'se of the windpipe, until it enters the chest. 



Fee'ding has much influence on this complaint. Too much dry meat, 

 and especially chaff, increases it. It is aggravated when the horse is 

 suffered to eat his litter, and it is often reheved when spring-tares are 

 given. Carrots afibrd decided relief. 



The seat of the disease, however, is so uncertain, and all our means and 

 apphances so inefiicacious, and the cough itself so little interfering, and 

 sometimes uiterfering not at all, with the health of the animal, that it is 

 scarcely worth while to persevere in any mode of treatment that is not evi- 

 dently attended with benefit. The principal consideration to induce us 

 to meddle at all with chronic cough is the knowledge that horses afilicted 

 with it are more liable than others to be affected by changes of tempera- 

 ture, and that inflammation of the lungs, or of the respiratory passages, 

 often assumes in them a very alarming character ; to which may be added, 

 that a horse with chronic cough cannot be warranted sound. 



When chronic cough chiefly occurs after eating, the seat of the 

 disease is evidently in the substance of the lungs. The stomach distended 

 with food presses upon the diaphragm, and the diaphragm upon the lungs ; 

 and the lungs, already labouring under some congestion, are less capable 

 of transmitting the air. In the violent effort to discharge their function, 

 irritation is produced, and the act of coughing is the consequence of that 

 irritation. 



The Veterinary Surgeon labours under great disadvantage m the treat- 

 ment of his patients. "^He must not only subdue the malady, but he must 

 remove all its consequences. Ee must leave Ms fcitient perfedly sound, or 

 he has done comparatively nothing. This is a task always difficult and 

 sometimes impossible to be accomplished. The two most frequent conse- 

 quences of severe chest-affections in the horse are recognised under the 

 terms tUcli-ivind and Irolcen-wmd. The breathing is hurried in both, and 

 the horse is generally much distressed when pvit upon his speed ; but it is 

 simply quick breathing in the first, with a peculiar sound like half-roaring 



the inspirations and expirations being rapid, forcible, but equal. In 



the second the breathing is also hurried, but the inspiration does not differ 

 materially from the natural one, while the expiration is difiicult, or doubly 



