I04 . VETERINARY HOMCEOPATHY. 



should be made only to apply to horses that have an affection of the 

 larynx which involves structural change of the organ in which 

 one portion of this complex instrument — for such it may reason- 

 ably be styled, by reason of its powers of local production — is 

 through loss of nervous energy rendered physiologically useless; 

 and worse than that the part so affected is not only useless but 

 absolutely physically injurious by reason of the obstruction to 

 respiration which the structural change in the larynx brings 

 about; there are other causes which render it very difficult, if not 

 absolutely impossible, for a horse to breath either freely or with- 

 out making a noise in the process, and that without the larynx 

 being affected, hence the necessity for discrimination; we ver)^ 

 much prefer as a general term the phrase ' ' makes a noise ' ' to ex- 

 press all the varied abnormal conditions which affect the respira- 

 tor}^ tract, rather than to speak of every horse that makes a noise 

 as a. " J^oarer," whistler, grunter, etc., leaving it to the circum- 

 stances and conditions to determine the seat and origin of the de- 

 fect, points most difficult of solution during life but which can as 

 a rule be accurately determined post mortem; this, however, is a 

 very unsatisfactory state of affairs, as the horse owner necessarily 

 desires to discriminate correctly during life in the hope of effect- 

 ing relief and thus render the animal more useful. The opinion 

 held by a large majority of the veterinary profession, and among 

 them some of the most experienced men of the day is that by far 

 the larger proportion of horses that make a noise are roarers proper, 

 that is to say structural change has taken place in the the larynx 

 in consequence of a wasted condition of certain muscles of the 

 organ, the said wasting being due to want of healthy innervation, 

 and resulting in one division of the larynx falling inwards and so 

 causing an obstruction to the passage of the air into the lungs as 

 the animal draws its breath inwards, or, in other words, effected 

 an inspiration; in this opinion we are not able to concur, as we 

 fully believe, after a somewhat varied experience, that though 

 large numbers of horses are roarers proper, a still larger number 

 make a noise from other causes. 



It may be as well in passing to enumerate some of the causes to 

 which the varied noises are due, which are continually observed 

 by those whose duty it is to examine horses for soundness or who 

 have frequent opportunities of observing animals they have never 



