DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS. 
513 
whistling have occurred, two of which might fairly give rise 
to doubts of their truth; but as both happened in the writer's 
experience, he ventures to give them. About four or five years 
ago a horse was brought for examination as to soundness of 
respiration. The animal was a hunter, and, from the fact of 
particular allusion being made to his breathing, it was evident 
that some doubt existed, and accordingly every test was applied 
to determine the point. In all his paces, upon turf and over 
ploughed land, the horse was found to be perfectly sound in 
his breathing. The groom, being informed of the conclusion, 
suggested, with the air of one who knew the solution of the 
difficulty by heart, that the horse should be ridden over a 
hurdle . This was immediately done, and with most unex¬ 
pected results. The animal, on landing, gave a grunt of 
apparent triumph at the achievement, and, throwing up his 
head, careered along to the accompaniment of a well-sustained 
“ clarion sound." It was then ascertained that the horse was 
well known to be a roarer, but, as the groom expressed it, 
“ You couldn’t knock a sound out of him, sir, until you took 
him over a fence." 
The singular part of the affair was that the horse, after 
being pulled up and started again, continued to “ roar" with¬ 
out a second leap being necessary. 
Without any exaggeration, the facts are put down as they 
occurred, and the case may fairly claim to stand alone. 
Under ordinary circumstances the horse would have been 
returned with a certificate of soundness, as, in the absence 
of a direct hint, one would hardly think of riding an animal 
over a fence for the purpose of testing his soundness. The 
next instance occurred quite recently in London. A dealer’s 
horse was examined, with the understanding that he was an 
undoubted roarer ; the owner had heard him “roar" on several 
occasions, and the men in the yard were quite familiar with 
the circumstance. Not, therefore, with the view of deciding a 
doubtful point, but of obtaining a formal certificate of an 
unquestionable unsoundness, a professional examination was 
considered necessary. The horse was submitted to the usual 
tests without any unnatural sounds being elicited, to the ex¬ 
treme surprise of the owner and the man who rode ; on the 
previous day it was asserted that the noise made by the 
animal was distinguishable the length of the ride. 
A second and longer trial was given a day or two after¬ 
wards, with the same result. After a short time the owner 
sent the horse to another veterinary surgeon, whose name, if 
it were given, would be a sufficient guarantee of his skill. 
He found the animal to be a decided roarer, and the man who 
