EASTERN COUNTIES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 755 
I do not say that the recurrent nerve may not be paralysed, and wasting 
of the muscles as a result, without hereditary taint. Roaring arising 
from a stoppage in the trachea by mechanical means having been caused 
by disease, as influenza, or affection of the lungs, tumours in the nos¬ 
trils, may be looked upon as exceptional, although abnormal sounds 
are produced. Tight reining in is a frequent cause, as it impedes normal 
respiration. The horse works uncomfortably to himself from the unna¬ 
turally curved position of the trachea. It is by no means a pleasant 
sight to see these wretched animals in our great cities and towns, 
reined up so tightly to please the ignorance and arrogance of the well- 
to-do public. 
The next object of importance that strikes our notice, and really the 
greatest of all, is the part the blood plays in the matter we have under 
consideration. That a fluid ever in motion should perpetuate in 
the solids of the body, peculiarities in structure cannot fail to strike 
our notice. This so-called vital fluid is certainly the support of life in 
the different structures of the body, for mortification soon follows 
when the circulation is long cut off from any part, this fluid whilst 
supporting the life of the solids of the body is losing its own, and to 
accomplish this giving of nutrition it must have motion in a circle, in 
the continuance of which it is supersaturated as it were with fresh 
living powers, having parted with its nutrition when it visited the va¬ 
rious parts of the body. The general way of viewing this subject 
regarding the conditions by which this fluid is transferred from one 
part of the system to another, producing sometimes local excess, or even 
deficiency as the case may be. That there should be a natural balance, 
or proportion of blood to various parts of the body is certain, and that 
there are often deviations in circulation without being really prejudicial 
to an animal’s life is a fact, as an instance of local inflammation arising 
from external causes. 
The definite conclusion we arrive at is that the constitution and tem¬ 
perament of the offspring are very nearly allied to the parent, and that 
every disorder, whether congenital or acquired, adds more or less, in 
time, to the list of hereditary diseases. Not that an animal may be 
actually born with the diseases to which its sire or dam are liable. This 
in the lower animals is rarely remarked, although in the newly-born 
infant, the offspring of a consumptive mother, tubercles in the lungs are 
often present. In our practice, however, animals are usually born free 
from disease, but the predisposition of the young animal usually shows 
itself at certain ages, depending on the nature of the malady, Too early 
work is most influential as a predisposing cause. Where active exertion 
is required in a young animal, exostosis, enlarged joints, and a quick 
wear of the limbs is a result. 
In splints, spavins, ringbones, curbs, dropsical condition of synovial 
cavities, scrofulous disease of joints, shivering, diseases of the eye, as 
cataract, constitutional ophthalmia, diseases of the feet generally, more 
especially navicular disease, hereditary taint may be strongly marked, 
but disease does not of necessity follow. When we get a morbid change 
in the structure of the foot, so that it becomes upright, the sole 
more concave, and the hoof generally of a blocky character, we find 
conditions, the marked effect of disease, which are nearly certain to 
show themselves in another generation. Again, in spavin we see 
cases of hock lameness of considerable importance, yet no bony 
enlargement: and, on the contrary, cases daily occur when we have an 
enlarged hock, yet no existing lameness. That this has become a disease 
of an hereditary character does not, I think, admit of a doubt. I do not 
