870 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
a partial peripheric nerve paralysis, para-paresis, or tabes dor¬ 
salis, then I can dismiss the subject by simply stating- that all 
such diseases determine decided unsoundness. 
DISCUSSION. 
Dr. Hughes: I congratulate Dr. Merillat on having so 
thoroughly covered the ground, and I am sorry that he has not 
left an opening, allowing us a greater opportunity to criticise 
his effort. At the same time, there are a few points in which 
I do not exactly agree with him. Snoring, for instance. Dr. 
Merillat expresses himself rather lightly regarding the question 
of snoring. It is a very disagreeable habit and one that mark¬ 
edly lessens an animal’s value, and we do not have to stay up 
all night to hear an animal snore. Snoring in a horse is due 
to vibration of the membrane between the false nostril and 
nasal chamber proper. That it may be acquired I have demon¬ 
strated to myself by having seen one horse contracting the 
habit from another, owing to standing in an adjoining stall. The 
horse referred to snored while standing quietly in the stable, 
but rarely did so on the street. Dealers are always afraid that 
a snoring horse will be rejected, and when trotting them out to 
exhibit them to prospective purchasers will rub their hands 
down over the nostrils as soon as they bring the horse to a 
standstill, thus stopping the tendency to snore or snort. Deal¬ 
ers, too, having a pronounced snorer or snorter, put compresses 
attached to the nose-band of the bridle over the false nostrils, 
and in this manner prevent it. In regard to grunting I cannot 
subscribe to the theory that it is always caused by thoracic ad¬ 
hesion. I have held post-mortems on some pronounced grunt- 
ers, but in two cases have found it was produced by cirrhosis of 
the liver, one of these cases having a liver weighing nearly 
forty pounds. There were no pleuritic adhesions in either of 
these cases, nor was there any abnormal lesions of the larynx 
present. Regarding cribbing, I would like to ask as to whether 
it is possible for a horse to swallow air ? According to our 
essayist it is. Is it possible for the pharynx to contract on a 
volume of air so as to force it down the oesophagus, considering 
that such air has so many ways of escape ? What we do know 
is, that some cribbers fill up with air, and whether it is liber¬ 
ated as a consequence of indigestion, or whether the air is 
sucked down the oesophagus, is a question that I have been un¬ 
able to solve. Regarding chorea, I am surprised to hear the 
essayist make the statement that it is rare in the horse. I fre¬ 
quently meet with it in my practice. If chorea is rare in the 
