b!8 CHRONIC COUGH. 



sorts from the sea passage across the Irish Channel," and with 

 the assurance that the symptoms will all disappear in a day 

 or two. I have known such horses bought, taken home, 

 treated, and dead within a short time, proving the disease to 

 be acute and severe enough, and quite sufficient to impress 

 upon the mind of the purchaser a lesson of caution. In other 

 instances, the cough does not disappear, and there is then an 

 endless dispute, where all chances of difference of opinion 

 should have been avoided long before. 



Were I to attempt a definition of a chronic cough, I could 

 not say more than that a cough is chronic when the period has 

 elapsed during which a chance of its cure exists. This is 

 vague enough ; but there are cases of relapsing sore throat, 

 of slight irritation of the larynx, which persist, and are, after 

 a time, cured, or which disappear when the animal is got, by 

 good management, into robust condition. The disappear- 

 ance of the cough is an indication that it cannot constitute a 

 permanent cause of unsoundness. On the other hand, if all 

 means have been adopted to control the cough and to cure it, 

 and a newly-bought horse continues to cough for two or 

 three months, it is not expedient for a purchaser to risk the 

 issue ; and if the conditions of the purchase admit of it the 

 animal should be returned. 



The treatment of a newly-bought horse with such a derange- 

 ment should be carefully conducted. In the first place, the 

 animal cannot be worked. Gentle exercise is alone admissible, 

 and this is not desirable should any degree of fever exist. 

 An airy stable or spacious loose box is the most certain to 

 benefit the animal, with moderate diet a double handful of 

 oats thrice daily, and 8 Ib. or 10 Ib. of hay. Keeping the 

 animal warm by closing every inlet for air, and giving mashes 

 frequently, if not daily, are means often adopted, but with 

 injurious influence. 



