110 CHOKING. 
the air has to pass, it also commands the quantity of atmosphere which 
is inspired. Thus the bulk of air is regulated to the diminution of the 
respiratory organs. The horse breathes freer, and no noise is made 
during the act. Yet, although such a contrivance may do very well for 
a London cab, the pace of which is regulated by Act of Parliament, it 
evidently is unsuited to the field, where everything depends on the 
capacity of the lungs, and nothing upon the sound made during in- 
spiration. 
Other causes are mentioned by different writers as provocatives of 
roaring, besides tight reining. Some of these, like thickening and ulcer- 
ation of the membrane lining the larynx, are the after consequences 
of acute disease, and, as such, are to be prevented only by judicious 
treatment during the existence of the primary disorder. Among other 
causes, bands of coagulable lymph in the trachea, and congenital de- 
formity, are too rare to deserve the attention they have received. 
There is one consolation, however, connected with the subject which 
breeders may accept with confidence. Roaring is not necessarily heredi- 
tary. There is, moreover, a caution, which, associated with roaring, 
may be given to purchasers. When trying a horse at the top of its 
speed, never hold in the reins tightly. By so doing, you draw the head 
upon the neck, compress the larynx, and may make almost any animal, 
however sound, ‘roar like a bull.” Rather wait till the animal has 
stopped. Then dismount, place your ear against the windpipe, and, if 
the horse is a roarer, the deep inspirations necessary to tranquilize the 
system will inform you plainly enough of the fact. 
CHOKING. 
Gentlemen have something to answer for, when they employ the know- 
ing and the ignorant as grooms about their stables. The writer wishes 
women would undertake to tend on horses. The animal requires no 
service that the female strength would not be equal to, while the female 
mind would soon comprehend and appreciate the gentleness of the quad- 
ruped. The timidity of the equine race would meet with womanly sym- 
pathy; and no one can have observed the attachments which spring up 
between the female and domesticated creatures, but must in heart have 
confessed that the care of the stable was, as much as the watching of 
the sick-room, especially woman’s province. 
The foolish fellows, now congregated about a mews, are constantly 
longing for something which shall magically do their work for them. 
They have a firm belief in charms and an utter hatred of labor. They 
sigh for some spell which shall marvelously improve the appearance of 
