390 DISEASES OF BREATHING. 



is the administration of iodide of potassium (J oz. a day in the 

 food or water). It is useful only in the early stages of this 

 malady; because it is powerless to restore lost muscular tissue. 

 Friedberger and Frohner recommend a course of hypodermic in- 

 jections, near the larynx, of about a grain of strychnine once a 

 day for three days at a time, with an interval of one day. Elec- 

 tricity might be tried ; although, if I remember rightly, Dr. 

 Fleming used it on Ormonde, without success. 



I have never seen any good results from the practice of giving 

 racehorses which are roarers, just before starting for a race, 

 butter or oil, as some persons recommend, with the object of 

 lessening their infirmity of breathing. Such animals will often 

 make much less noise when " fit,'' than when " out of condition." 



To modify the admission of air into the lungs, Reeve has 

 suggested the use of a strap to pass over the false nostrils of a 

 roarer. This strap is fixed to each side of the bit, and is kept in 

 position by a strap at each side attached to the head-stall of the 

 bridle. " To the inner surface of this strap, immediately over the 

 false nostril at each side, was fixed a body resembling in shape 

 the half of an hen's egg cut longitudinally. When applied, these 

 bodies pressed upon the triangular space formed by the apex of 

 the nasal bones and upper jaw, thus closing the false nostrils, and 

 partly diminishing the channel of the true ones." The employ-- 

 ment of this strap has been ruled to be cruelty to animals. 

 Mr. Reginald Over points out to me that as the cessation of the 

 objectionable noise is thus obtained only by decrease in the 

 amount of inhaled air, the action of the strap in no way relieves 

 ,the difficulty of breathing, which is caused by the calibre of the 

 larynx being abnormally small. He also tells me that if a roarer 

 is making a "noise" after severe exertion, the "music" can be 

 instantly stopped by applying the fingers to one or both nostrils, 

 so as to partly diminish the supply of air taken into the lungs. 



Any benefit which might be obtained by exporting a roarer 

 from a cold damp climate, into a hot, dry one, would be possible 

 only during the early stages of the complaint ; that is, before 

 the affected muscle or muscles had become converted more or less 

 into fibrous tissue. The chances of recovery by change of climate 

 are far too few to warrant the adoption of such a remedy. 



Tracheotomy is a useful means of relief from roaring, especially 

 with racehorses. 



Up to the present, the attempted relief of roaring by surgical 

 means has been a failure. We must remember that the mere re- 

 moval of the noise or of the obstruction can have no curative effect 

 on the nervous disease which rise to it, and which, also, frequently 

 affects the lungs and general health in an injurious manner. 



