052 INFLAMMATION OF THE LARYNX. 



ceeded beyond the fauces, small doses of aloes may with advantage be united 

 with other medicines in order to evacuate the intestinal canal, and reduce the 

 faecal discharge to a pultaceous form. 



If catarrh is accompanied by sore throat ; if the parotids should enlarge and 

 become tender — there are no tonsils, amygdala, in the horse—or if the sub- 

 maxillary glands should be inflamed, and the animal should quid his food and 

 gulp his water, this will be an additional reason for bleeding, and also for warm 

 clothing and a comfortable stable. A hot stable is not meant by the term com- 

 fortable, in which the foul air is breathed over and over again, but a tempera- 

 ture some degrees above that of the external air, and where that determination 

 to the skin and increased action of the exhalent vessels, which in these cases are 

 so desirable, may take place. Every stable, both for horses in sickness and in 

 health, should have in it a thermometer. 



Some stimulating liniment may be applied over the inflamed gland, consisting 

 of turpentine or tincture of cantharides diluted with spermaceti or neat's-foot 



oil strong enough to produce considerable irritation on the skin, but not to 



blister, or to destroy the hair. An embrocation sufficiently powerful, and yet 

 that never destroys the hair, consists of equal parts of hartshorn, oil of turpen- 

 tine, and camphorated spirit, with a small quantity of laudanum. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE LARYNX. 



Strictly speaking, this refers to inflammation confined to the larynx, but 

 either catarrh or bronchitis, or both, frequently accompany the complaint. 



Its approach is often insidious, scarcely to be distinguished from catarrh ex- 

 cept by being attended with more soreness of throat, and less enlargement of the 

 parotid glands. There are also more decided and violent paroxysms of cough- 

 ing than in common catarrh, attended by a gurgling noise, which may be heard 

 at a little distance from the horse, and which, by auscultation, is decidedly 

 referrible to the larynx. The breathing is shorter and quicker, and evidently 

 more painful than in catarrh ; the membrane of the nose is redder ; it is of a 

 deep modena colour ; and the horse shrinks and exhibits great pain when the 

 larynx is pressed upon. The paroxysms of coughing become more frequent and 

 violent, and the animal appears at times almost suffocated. 



As the soreness of the throat proceeds, the head of the animal is projected, 

 and the neck has a peculiar stiffness. There is also much difficulty of swallow- 

 ing. Considerable swelling of the larynx and the pharynx ensue, and also of 

 the parotid, sublingual and submaxillary glands. As the inflammation increases 

 the cough becomes hoarse and feeble, and in some cases altogether suspended. 

 At the commencement there is usually little or no nasal defluxion, but the 

 secretion soon appears, either pure or mixed with an unusual quantity of saliva. 



Auscultation is a very important aid in the discovery of the nature and 

 serious or trifling character of this disease. It cannot be too often repeated that 

 it is one of the most valuable means which we possess of detecting the seat, 

 intensity and results, of the maladies of the respiratory passages. No instru- 

 ment is required ; the naked ear can be applied evenly and flatly, and with a 

 very slight pressure, on any part that it is of importance to examine. The 

 healthy sound, when the ear is applied to the windpipe, is that of a body of air 

 passing uninterruptedly through a smooth tube of somewhat considerable cali- 

 bre : it very much resembles the sound of a pair of forge bellows, when not too 

 violently worked. 



He who is desirous of ascertaining whether there is any disease in the larynx 

 of a horse, should apply his ear to the lower part of the windpipe. If he finds 

 that the air passes in and out without interruption, there is no disease of any 

 consequence either in the windpipe or the chest ; for it would immediately be 

 detected by the loudness or the interruption of the murmur. Then let him °ra- 



