100 COUGH. 
muscles of expiration. The air is violently expelled, and an explosive 
sound is the consequence. During this spasm, the soft palate is raised, 
and the breath is allowed to pass through the mouth as well as through 
the nostrils. The horse, as a rule, being able only to respire through 
the nostrils. 
The characteristic noise is generally annoying to the master. Warmth, 
however, is popularly esteemed the cure for cold. The horse proprietor, 
therefore, thrusts his animal into an abode heated by impurity, only to 
find the annoyance aggravated. This fact is soon explained. Stables 
are not heated by fire or by water; their warmth is entirely derived from 
the fermentation of excrement. Were they well ventilated, efficiently 
built and cleanly kept, these places, having no artificial heat, must be 
cold; but the owner loves warmth; it feels so comfortable; it is so 
nice! He does not inquire if it is derived from the right source; he 
THE ACT OF COUGHING. 
hates the bother of investigating Nothing can be proper if you are to 
consult medical men! They talk and discuss, but no good comes of 
their verbosity! And by such sayings, the horse proprietor blinds his 
judgment, permitting to continue the evil which ignorance institutes. 
Chronic cough cannot, when thus treated, amend. It continues till the 
membrane covering the larynx be thickened and morbidly sensitive; then 
the cough is an appendage to the life, and roaring is its companion. 
For the cure of chronic cough, scald and crush the oats, damp the 
hay, and give thin gruel or linseed tea for drink. At the same time see 
that the air is pure: the human nose is a sufficiently good test of at- 
mosphere—that of the stable should not smell of horses, or of any taint 
whatever. If the ventilation is good, the drainage clear, and the bed- 
ding clean, the interior of a stable should be as odorless as any lady’s 
apartment. 
