138 
OBSERVATIONS ON SOUNDNESS. 
sound ones than ought to be. It may be in the recollection 
of some of the readers of the Veterinarian that I was inte¬ 
rested in an experiment which was instituted for the purpose 
of ascertaining if the mucous discharge from the left nostril 
of a pony had the power of propagating disease. This was 
done, in consequence of the owner of the pony having lost 
a young and valuable horse from glanders. The case is 
recorded by me in the Veterinarian^ vol. xxx, page 380. I 
repeat, we cannot scrutinise too closely any secretion from 
the Schneiderian membrane when met with, and particularly 
if we find the horse free from cough. 
The diseases of this part of the air-passages are not nume¬ 
rous ; and it is probable we shall have to consider only a 
portion of them. I shall, therefore, in this paper, merely 
refer to two or three—viz., catarrh, nasal gleet, and glanders. 
A common cold, as it is termed, as a general rule, soon runs 
its course. It frequently is removed by a little good nursing, 
but more frequently the horse is left for nature^s cure. 
There are cases, however, of simple catarrh which leave 
behind them something that is annoying to the prac¬ 
titioner, as well as the owner of the horse. I allude to 
whistling. 
Polypus is a disease so little known with us, that it needs 
no notice from me. 
Nasal gleet is, I think, a disease which is thought but little 
about by horsekeepers generally. It is, in consequence of 
its being considered of no importance, nearly as dangerous, 
if not more so, than glanders itself, since in the one case no 
person is careful, and in the other case all are. An animal 
having a discharge from the left nostril, however small in 
quantity, and of long standing, should at all times be critically 
examined, and, if need be, an ass made the subject of experi¬ 
ment from it. My own practice has taught me that these 
occasional discharges are very serious, and most of them are 
capable of producing disease. It becomes, consequently, our 
duty to inquire into the cause of nasal gleet, and to point out 
any peculiarities which may lead us to safe conclusions in 
pronouncing an animal to be sound. 
It is an universally received opinion that that which is 
called, and which surgeons understand by the term inflam- 
matiori'of the Schneiderian membrane, is the principal cause 
of nasal discharge. Although it has been argued that this 
affection is produced without inflammation having existed, 
I am not inclined to believe it. It does not follow that such 
has not existed because the owner or groom has not witnessed 
it. These attacks are of so mild a form frequently that it 
