The name is evidently derived from the noise which constitutes the chief symptom of the disorder. Cough consists in spasm of all the muscles of expiration. The air is violently expelled, and an explosive sound is the consequence. During this spasm, the soft palate is raised, and the breath is allowed to pass through the mouth as well as through the nostrils. The horse, as a rule, being able only to respire through the nostrils.
THE ACT OF COUGHING.
The characteristic noise is generally annoying to the master. Warmth, however, is popularly esteemed the cure for cold. The horse proprietor, therefore, thrusts his animal into an abode heated by impurity, only to find the annoyance aggravated. This fact is soon explained. Stables are not heated by fire or by water; their warmth is entirely derived from the fermentation of excrement. Were they well ventilated, efficiently built and cleanly kept, these places, having no artificial heat, must be cold; but the owner loves warmth; it feels so comfortable; it is so nice! He does not inquire if it is derived from the right source; he hates the bother of investigating. Nothing can be proper if you are to consult medical men! They talk and discuss, but no good comes of their verbosity! And by such sayings, the horse proprietor blinds his judgment, permitting to continue the evil which ignorance institutes. Chronic cough cannot, when thus treated, amend. It continues till the membrane covering the larynx be thickened and morbidly sensitive; then the cough is an appendage to the life, and roaring is its companion.
For the cure of chronic cough, scald and crush the oats, damp the hay, and give thin gruel or linseed tea for drink. At the same time see that the air is pure: the human nose is a sufficiently good test of atmosphere—that of the stable should not smell of horses, or of any taint whatever. If the ventilation is good, the drainage clear, and the bedding clean, the interior of a stable should be as odorless as any lady's apartment.
Cough, or the noise which accompanies stages of different disorders, will be described as the various affections of which it is a symptom are passed before the reader. Chronic cough, or the sound that follows a draught of cold water, and is heard when the horse quits the stable for the open air, is most distressing. It is a constant accompaniment during the commencement of a journey, and requires that the food and lodging should be looked to. Clothe warmly, and give half a pint of the following, in a tumbler of cold water, thrice daily:—
| Extract of belladonna (rubbed down in a pint of cold water) | One drachm. |
| Tincture of squills | Ten ounces. |
| Tincture of ipecacuanha | Eight ounces. |
| Mix. |
If no beneficial change be witnessed, try the subjoined:—
| Barbadoes tar (or common tar if none other be at hand) | Half an ounce. |
| Calomel | Five grains. |
| Linseed meal | A sufficiency. |
| Mix, and give as one ball, night and morning. |