OBSERVATIONS ON SOUNDNESS. 
205 
great and hard swelling between the horse^s nether chaps, 
upon the roots of the horse^s tongue, and about his throat; 
which swelling, if it be not prevented, will stop the horse^s 
windpipe and so strangle or choke him; from which effect, 
and none other, the name of the disease took its derivation. 
The signs of this disease, besides the apparent sign thereof 
and the palpable feeling of the same, are, the horse^s temples 
of his head will be hollow, and his tongue will hang out of 
his mouth, his head and eyes will be swollen, and the passage 
of the throat so stopt that he can neither eat nor drink, and 
his breath will be exceedingly short. The cure thereof, 
according to the most ancient farriers, is, with a round, small, 
hot iron, to thrust a hole through the skin on both sides the 
wezand, and then after it beginneth to matter, to mix butter, 
tannen water and suet, together, and every day anoint the 
sore therewith till it be whole.^'' 
Markham speaks of various modes of treatment besides this, 
but he sums up the whole by recommending his own :—. 
perfume his head, by burning under his nostrils either frank- 
insense or mastic, &c.^^ In speaking of irregular strangles, or 
vives, as the ancients termed it—he says : And the cure, 
according to the opinion,^^ &c., &c., ^^is thus :—If you see the 
kernels begin to rankle and swell, you shall take the horse’s ear, 
and laying it down along the neck of the horse, at the very end 
or tip of the ear cut a hole through the skin of the neck the 
length of an almond, or better; and then with a crooked "wire 
pick out all those kernels which you find inflamed; which 
done, fill the whole full of salt; then about the end of three 
days you shall find the sore beginneth to matter.This 
appears to be about the substantial part of the treatment of 
these complaints in those days. Coming down to our own time, 
we find in ‘ Blaines^ Outlines/ almost all that can be said or 
written about strangles. Each and every individual who is in 
the habit of writing his observations upon the subject finds' 
something new in every case he is called upon to treat, no 
two cases being exactly the same. Blaine quotes from that 
able writer, Hurtrel ^D’Arboval. This gentleman ridicules 
the idea of its being a congenital and constitutional affection. 
There cannot be much doubt that almost all animals are 
affected by this form of disease at some time in their lives, 
much in the same way as children are subject to measles and 
other complaints. I also think there can be but little doubt 
as to its constitutional character. I will relate a couple of 
instances that occurred in my practice, which will, I think, go 
some way to corroborate the opinion of those who believe it 
to be a constitutional affection. A. yearling colt was presented 
