Should no improvement result, the next may be substituted:—
| Powdered aloes | One drachm. |
| Balsam of copaiba | Three drachms. |
| Cantharides | Three grains. |
| Common mass | A sufficiency. |
| Mix, and give first thing in the morning. |
A bundle of cut grass, every day, has done much good in the spring; so, also, has a lump of rock salt placed in the manger, during any season of the year. The horse, however, should be observed. If it eat the litter, no straw, during the daytime, should cover the stall; and, at night, a muzzle should be fixed upon the animal. The cough must be more than of a simple character which does not vanish before the proposed measures are exhausted. Cut roots, also, are beneficial during this disease. The hay should not be abundant, and should always be moistened. But, above all things, attend to the drainage and ventilation of the stable.
LARYNGITIS.
The common cause of this disorder is foul stables. When we see the animal associated with the nobleman in his pride, and linked as the willing slave of the merchant for his profit, it does seem strange that a creature, thus connected, should be subject to disease from scant and tainted lodging. When we consider the subject from another point of view, and regard the beautiful framework, animated by the affectionate disposition of the horse, it sounds more than cruel, to say the most valuable and amiable assistant man has on earth dies neglected in age, and, during the vigor of its prime, encounters disease from the niggard provision made for its welfare. The devotion of a life ought to entitle the laborer to breathing space, after the labor of the day has ended. But noblemen, professional men, merchants, tradesmen, mechanics, all sin in this respect alike. The horse, when not toiling, is pushed away into the narrowest possible limits. The prisoner is permitted only to breathe a limited quantity of the air which nature has supplied in so great abundance and in such purity. That quantity must, from the time of close confinement, be frequently respired during the night; and, when the air of the place has become hot and heavy, the quadruped, at the command of its attendant, quits its abode for the cold atmosphere without the walls.
The pure air which circulates about our globe is certainly much to be preferred to the close interior of the stable. Yet, to the larynx, in some measure accustomed to the last, a sudden draught of the first is the almost certain source of disease. It acts as a stimulant upon a part rendered delicate by abiding in a morbid medium. It operates violently upon a structure which had almost become familiarized with impurity. Inflammation is the result, and laryngitis is established.
The symptoms are broadly marked and prominently characterized. Dullness is present. There is a slight enlargement, which may be observed externally, and over the region of the larynx. The most distant attempt to handle the throat produces energetic resistance. The head is carried awkwardly, as though the neck were "stiff." A short cough is frequently to be heard almost at every inspiration. At the same time, there is often to be detected a hoarse sound, which becomes a sort of grunt, when the ear is placed against the trachea. The breath is hurried and catching; the pulse is full and throbbing; while the nasal membrane approaches to a scarlet hue.
THE STEAMING-BAG.
For a full description see p. [85].