SOKE THROAT, OR LARYNGITIS. 113 



it internally is so higlily sensitive that if the smallest particle of food 

 happens to drop into it from the pharynx violent coughing ensues 

 instantly and is continued until the source of irritation is ejected. 

 This is a provision of nature to prevent foreign substances gaining 

 access to the lungs. That projection called Adam's apple in the neck 

 of man is the prominent part of one of the cartilages forming the 

 larjaix. 



Inflammation of the larynx is a serious and sometimes a fatal dis- 

 ease, and, as before stated, is usually complicated with inflammation 

 of the pharynx, constituting what is popularly known as " sore 

 throat." The chief causes are chilling and exposure. 



Symptoms. — About the first symptom noticed is cough, followed by 

 difficulty in swallowing, which may be due to soreness of the mem- 

 brane of the pharynx, over which the food or water must pass, or to 

 the pain caused by the contraction of the muscles necessary to impel 

 the food or water onward to the gullet; or this same contraction of 

 the muscles may cause a pressure on the larynx and produce pain. In 

 many instances the difficulty in swallowing is so great that water, and 

 in some cases food, is returned through the nose. This, hovfever, 

 does not occur from laryngitis alone, but only when the pharynx is 

 involved in the inflammation. The glands between the lov\^er jaw- 

 bones and below the ears may be swollen. Pressure on the larynx 

 induces coughing. The head is more or less " poked out," and has 

 the appearance of being stiffly carried. The membrane in the nose 

 becomes red. A discharge from the nostrils soon appears. As the 

 <lisease advances, the breathing may assume a more or less noisy char- 

 acter ; sometimes a harsh rasping snore is emitted with every respira- 

 tion, the breathing becoijies hurried, and occasionally the animal 

 seems threatened with suffocation. 



Treatment. — In all cases steam the nostrils, as has been advised for 

 cold in the head. In bad cases cause the steam to be inhaled continu- 

 ously for hours — until relief is afforded. Have a fresh bucketful of 

 boiling water every fifteen or twenty minutes. In each bucketful of 

 water put a tablespoonful of oil of turpentine, or compound tincture 

 of benzoin, the vapor of which will be carried along with the steam to 

 the affected parts and have a beneficial effect. In mild cases steaming 

 the nostrils five, six, or seven times a day will suffice. 



The animal should be placed in a comfortable, dry stall (a box stall 

 preferred) , and should have a pure atmosphere to breathe. The body 

 should be blanketed, and bandages applied to the legs. The diet 

 should consist of soft food — bran mashes, scalded oats, linseed gruel, 

 and, best of all, grass, if in season, which should be fresh. The man- 

 ger, or trough, should not be too high nor too low, but a temporary 

 one should be constructed at about the height he carries his head. 



H. Doc. 795, 59-2 8 



