Preventive and Curative Treatment. 133 



years it has been rare indeed to hear of veterinary surgeons 

 undertaking the treatment of horses so affected, such being 

 regarded as hopeless, even at the very commencement of 

 the Roaring. BHstering the throat, or applying the ferrum 

 candens over the larynx, has been the principal treatment ; 

 but even this appears to have been long given up. 



Now that we understand the pathology of Roaring, we 

 are in a better position to adopt rational measures for what 

 we may term its " cure," and with much certainty of suc- 

 cessful results. In this respect, we may venture to hope 

 that veterinary surgeons will be more fortunate in the future 

 than surgeons ; as laryngeal paralysis is always a serious 

 condition in man, because the disease which gives rise to 

 it is so frequently of a fatal character. 



(a) Medical Treatment of Roaring. 



Medical treatment, it must be confessed, has not been 

 found very successful in the removal of Roaring, and the 

 reason for this is obvious. Atrophied muscle cannot be 

 regenerated, and if the left dilator of the larynx has wholly, 

 or even partially disappeared, its restoration is impos- 

 sible. It is only in cases in which the muscular tissue 

 though weak (paresis, simple atrophy), can be again 

 developed to its original condition, and the compressed or 

 damaged nerve brought to its normal state, that medical 

 treatment is likely to be beneficial. So long as it is mere 

 Aveakness, through feeble conduction in the recurrent nerve, 

 then the resources of therapeutics may be made available in 

 removing the Roaring. 



If it is suspected that the thoracic lymphatic glands are 

 the cause of nerve impotency, then the administration of pre- 

 parations of iodine — as iodide of potassium, iron, or mercury, 

 win probably prove of value. Percivall, long ago, suggested 

 the employment of iodine. After recommending bleeding, 

 purging, alterative medicines, and counter-irritation, he 

 remarks : " I know of nothing more that can be done by 



