CHAPTER IV.
THE NOSTRILS--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.
COLD.
It should not excite surprise if the horse, though generally strong, and exposed to every abuse, is occasionally subject to the disease which, in man, is almost the property of the delicately nurtured. The animal exists in a stable commonly kept at a high temperature by means of contaminated air; it is taken thence into a wintry atmosphere to stand for an uncertain period before the master's door. There it has to remain inactive, shivering in the blast, until it suits the proprietor's convenience to come forth; next, it is pushed along till the perspiration bedews the sides. Then it has to remain, generally unprotected, in the cold until some business is transacted, when it is flurried home again, and often has to wait afterward till it suits the groom's leisure to dry the reeking frame.
Can it create astonishment if an animal so treated exhibit that nasal affection denominated "cold?" The case is similar with hunters. They leave hot stables to join the distant meet. Game may be soon started, or "the find" may occupy hours; at last, men, horses, and hounds scamper off; the fences are cleared; the fields, though they be swampy or plowed, are crossed at the longest stride. The pace is killing while it lasts; at length, comes a check. That saves many a steed, whose breathing ability was well nigh exhausted; but every animal has to shiver till the "view holloa!" again summons the assembly to motion.
How often does my lady's "carriage stop the way?" And how long have the horses to stand in the rain before it does go? How frequently does the gig or brougham linger near the curb, while another glass to good fellowship is drained? Then, we have to reflect upon the breathing forms harnessed to hired carriages; how the street cab rests in storms! How, day or night, the horses must be exposed to all the varied seasons! Unsheltered from the sun; with no protection from the frost! Let the reader reflect upon this and say, not if it be wonderful that a few horses exhibit the affection denominated cold; but whether it is not a legitimate matter for surprise every second horse is not thus affected?
A mild cold, with care, is readily alleviated. A few mashes, a little green meat, an extra rug and a day or two of rest, commonly end the business. When the attack is more severe, the horse is dull; the coat is rough; the body is of unequal temperatures, hot in parts, in places icy cold. The membrane of the nose at first is dry and pale or leaden colored; the facial sinuses are clogged; the head aches; the appetite has fled; often tears trickle from the eyes, simple ophthalmia being no rare accompaniment to severe cold; till at length a copious defluxion falls from the nostrils without immediately improving the general appearance of the animal.
The treatment is plain. When mucous membrane is involved, all depletion must be avoided; the invalid should be comfortably and warmly housed; should have an ample bed, and the body should be plentifully clothed. Then a hair bag, half as long and half as wide again as the ordinary nose-bag, should be buckled by a broad strap on to the sick horse's head; into the bag should be previously inserted one gallon of yellow deal saw-dust; upon the saw-dust, through an opening guarded with a flap upon the side of the bag, should be emptied a kettle of boiling water, the superfluity of which may run or drain through the hair composing the bag.
The boiling water ought to be renewed every twenty minutes, as the bag should be retained upon the head for an hour each time. Should not yellow deal saw-dust be obtainable, procure some of common deal, upon which last pour one ounce of spirits of turpentine. Mix well and thoroughly before you apply the bag to the head; but should not a proper apparatus be in the stable, then it is better to forego the steaming, as the common nose-bag is far too short and too tight for safety. The cloth moreover is apt to swell and not to allow the free passage of the water. Sad accidents have ensued upon the incautious employment of the ordinary nose-bag for steaming purposes.
If the horse appear to be weak, and there is the slightest suspicion that the weight of the appliance for the time directed may tax the strength, let some substance, as a stool, a form or chair, be placed beneath the bag. The animal will require no teaching to understand the use of the intended resting-place. As the weight begins to drag, the head will be lowered, and after a very brief space the steaming apparatus will be found reposing upon its intended support.
While the membrane is dry, use the steaming-bag six times daily. When a copious stream of pus flows from the nose, its application thrice daily will be sufficient. At the same time let the food consist of grass with mashes, to regulate the bowels and subdue the attendant fever. Give no medicine; but the discharge being established, three daily feeds of crushed and scalded oats, with a few broken beans added to them, will do no harm. Likewise, should the weakness be great, a couple of pots of stout, one pot at night and the other at morning, will be beneficial. Good nursing, a loose box, fresh air, warmth, and not even exercise till the disorder abates, are also to be commended. Afterward take to full work with caution, as much debility is apt to ensue upon severe cold. It will also sometimes lead to other diseases, as those of the larynx, air-passages, and lungs. Should the symptoms deepen, the treatment must be changed; the lesser affection (=cold=) being swallowed up by the greater disorder, which is superadded; consequently, disregard the original ailment, taking those measures requisite to relieve the new and more important affliction.
Animals with =chronic cold=, or with a constant running from the nose, soon exhibit excessive weakness. Nothing taxes the strength so much as the prolonged disorder of any mucous surface.
All that ignorant people know of glanders is, that the disease is accompanied with a nasal defluxion. The more cunning in horse flesh, likewise, are aware that glanders causes the lymphatic gland within the jaw to swell, or that a glandered horse is always, as such people assert, jugged.
Now, both the discharge and the enlargement are generally present during inveterate cold. Animals of this kind are sold to the unwary as sound horses. The vendors believe the quadruped to be glandered, or to be affected with the most terrible of equine diseases; and the purchaser wants knowledge to perceive the contrary.
Let, therefore, no man who buys "a captain," (which is the slang for a horse with nasal discharge,) become alarmed, and to some member of the gang from whom it was bought, resell his bargain for a few shillings. Large sums are often made by thus disposing of a diseased animal for a high price; then, directly afterward, frightening the purchaser with a view to buying back at a cheap rate the supposed glandered horse. Always take the animal to the nearest veterinary surgeon. Have the quadruped examined; and, if really glandered, order it to be immediately destroyed. Listen to no offer; but have the order obeyed.
A gentleman once attending a sale, bought for a large price a fine black horse. No sooner had the money been paid, than a man came up and informed the purchaser of the real character of his recent acquisition, offering to take the bargain off the new owner's hands for fewer shillings than pounds had just been given. The proposal was indignantly refused. Others came, but all encountered the same answer. The terms were gradually heightened, till double the money expended was tendered. The horse, however, was destroyed; thus a gang of swindlers were deprived of a property which, they owned, had for the last year earned them an easy thousand pounds.
Every man, however, must not anticipate so favorable a proposal. The animals mostly are worthless, and would only be rebought for a very trifle; the swindlers, generally, being perfectly indifferent whether their eyes ever again behold a creature which can be easily replaced.
NASAL POLYPUS.
A =polypus=, when not otherwise distinguished, represents a pear-shaped body, which has little sensation, but great vascularity. It is not malignant, and its growth is generally rapid. By the increase of its weight, the polypus ultimately hangs from the spot where it grew, and becomes pendant by a sort of stalk, formed principally by the blood-vessels enveloped in the membrane which coats the tumor. Such growths are peculiar to mucous tissues, or to all the cavities of the body which communicate with the external air. With regard to the horse, polypus is mostly met with in the nostrils.
It is a disputed point how these growths are occasioned. However, no compliment is paid to the veterinary science, when it is asserted that, even to this day, no recognized plan of treatment for polypus has been laid down. Such tumors are allowed to be removed with the knife, by ligature, by traction, and by tortion; in short, as you please. The first has generally been employed after a most butcherly fashion, slicing a piece off one day, and taking a morsel the next, till by slow degrees the whole was extirpated. So barbarous an operation is only worthy of ancient farriery; the blood lost must be enormous, and the subsequent weakness of the animal must more than counterbalance any benefit which the operation could have promised. Mr. Varnell, assistant professor at the Royal Veterinary College, lately removed a growth of this kind in a much more surgical fashion. That gentleman had a knife made with an angular blade; by employing this instrument, he was enabled to excise the tumor with a single cut, inflicting little pain, but affording immediate and lasting benefit to the creature. Where it can be employed, Mr. Varnell's angular knife is to be recommended, as the quickest and most efficient means of eradication which the public possess.
Tortion is more repulsive in appearance than in reality. A pair of scissors having sharp curved claws, at the expanded ends of blunt blades, are employed. The tumor is seized by the claws, a little pressure is made, and, at the same time, the scissors are drawn slightly forward. By that means the points are driven into the substance, and a firm hold is obtained. The handles of the scissors are next fastened together with wire, or not, at the pleasure of the operator. The scissors are afterward made to revolve several times, and with each revolution they oblige the polypus to turn upon its pedicle, which motion first twists and ultimately ruptures it. The growth is thus removed; as the polypus is not very sensitive, and the operation should be soon over, small suffering is inflicted, when compared with the permanent ease which the proceeding insures.
Of the operation by traction or dragging away, no notice will be taken; it is a vulgar and a cruel affair. Ligature, however, where it can be used, is generally preferred; because the employment of it is not so sudden, and, consequently, not apparently so violent; because no blood generally follows the removal, and therefore there is no visible evidence of pain. The writer is not certain it is the least painful of the methods proposed; the relief is delayed, although the appearance and the appetite of the animal are assurances that nothing approaching to agony is inflicted.
For ligature procure a fine, hollow tube, having at one end a cover made to screw on and off; the opposite extremity must be open, and should have a cross bar attached externally, one inch from the termination. Upon the cover two holes must be bored, each large enough to admit a fine wire; to arm this instrument, which should be about eighteen inches long, procure a piece of zinc wire one yard and a half long; push this through one of the holes on the unscrewed cover and down the tube; screw on the cover; fasten the projecting end of the wire to the cross bar; return the wire through the other hole, and, passing it down the tube, leave it hanging free. Form of the wire a loop, large enough to surround the polypus; pass it gently over the head of the growth; by means of the tube, work the loop upward, tightening the wire as the size of the polypus diminishes. When the wire is round the pedicle, fix it by winding it also over the cross bar; then slowly make turns with the tube, observing the growth while so doing. When the tumor changes color or the animal exhibits pain, discontinue all further movements; release the wires from the cross bar and withdraw the tube, leaving the ends of the ligature protruding from the nostril and turned up on one side of the face.
Order the horse to be fastened to the pillar-reins that night, and to be watched while feeding. The next day, if the tumor do not feel sensibly cold and has not evidently lost the living hue, reinsert the wires into the tube, fix them again on the cross bar, and give another turn or two. If small alteration be subsequently observed, the same evening the proceeding may be repeated; but, when death appears confirmed in the tumor, twist the tube till the pedicle gives way.
The advantages possessed by this invention is, firstly, the ability of twisting a ligature tight when the growth is partly removed from view. Also, in the adoption of wire which will retain the form it is placed in, and remain unaffected by the moisture natural to the nostrils. Moreover, the tube can be made without the screwing head-piece, and answers quite as well, or even better, when solid. If made without the screwing head-piece, it can assume a flattened form, and it is somewhat easier to introduce; but the wire, in that case, must have both ends pushed through the holes down the tube.
The =bleeding polypus= is not met with in the horse. For that polypus which sprouts from the nasal membrane and extends to the fauces, impeding respiration and deglutition, appearing like a disease of the structure, to which it is attached by a broad base, nothing can be done. It grows fast, and in a short time renders longer life a larger misery.
The polypus which admits of removal is a smooth, moist, glistening and vascular body. It greatly impedes the breathing. These growths have been known to push out the cartilaginous division of the nostrils until the once free passage was all but obliterated. They provoke a constant discharge of pure mucus, and, on that account, the horse, thus affected, has been condemned as glandered. However, the truth may be at once recognized by closing the nostrils alternately. It is then easy to discover which cavity is affected, as a resistance is provoked by stopping the free channel, which bears no resemblance to glanders. To bring down the polypus, cough the horse, by making gentle pressure upon the topmost part of the windpipe; for, during the stages of glanders, any appearance at all resembling polypus is never present. It was usual, the instant the growth was visible, to transfer it with a tenaculum. This, however, like other barbarities, only did harm. The substance of a polypus is easily rent, and it bleeds freely. The bleeding concealed much, which, after proceedings rendered necessary, should be plainly seen. It is better, when sufficient room is not left for operation or inspection, to proceed with greater boldness, so as to ascertain the advantages likely to result from further measures. Then throw the horse, and with a probe-pointed, straight bistoury, slit up the nostril upon the outer side. That done, release the animal till all bleeding has ceased, when the endeavors may be renewed with a better prospect of success. Afterward, close the incision with a double set of sutures, (one set to the true nostril and another for the false nostril). Apply to the wound the chloride of zinc wash, and in a short time all will be healed.
=Nasal polypus=, nevertheless, is an affection often requiring the performance of tracheotomy, before any examination can be attempted. For this necessity, the operator must be prepared; but, as tracheotomy is required only to relieve the breathing during examination, the temporary tube invented by Mr. Gowing is, in that instance, decidedly to be recommended.
NASAL GLEET.
This terrible affliction is suppuration of the mucous membrane, lining the facial sinuses. It rarely occurs in the stable; but when it does, the cause mostly is to be traced to the projection of some molar tooth, and the disease is then generally hopeless. The pressure of the tooth has provoked irritation of the bone. The sinuses are no longer hollow spaces, but have been converted into cavities crowded with bony net-work. To cleanse them in that condition is impossible, and death is the only resort left to a humane proprietor.
Horses, when allowed a run at grass, are often taken up with the bones of the face swollen and soft. Percussion draws forth the same response as would be elicited by rapping upon a pumpkin. The animal, suddenly released from toil, has been playing in the field with its new associates. The simple creature could not comprehend the feet were fettered. The equine race always display joy with their heels, and the hoof, which unshod might lightly touch the neighbor's skull and no injury result, being armed with iron carries additional weight with the blow, and leaves behind a deadly bruise upon the facial bones. The following engraving, representing an extreme case of this kind, is a warning never to turn your animal into a field where others are grazing; but if you are obliged to starve a horse on grass, at all events choose a spot where it can be alone.
Besides the distortion, the next prominent symptom attending nasal gleet is fetor. Discharge is not always present. It is irregular in its appearance, but can generally be made to flow, by a brisk trot or by some tempting food being placed upon the ground. Stench and discharge, often coming only from one nostril, but occasionally from two, are likewise symptomatic of the same disorder.
Pus is, naturally, the blandest secretion of the body; but being confined, it corrupts, and then smells abominably. The blow, which started up the secretion, injured the bones forming facial sinuses. Those cavities open to the nostril on either side by two comparatively small flaps, slits, or valves. These are their only means of communication with the external atmosphere; and through these valves all the pus must flow. Is it surprising if such structures occasionally become clogged, till the accumulated secretion, or the increased breathing, or the position of the head, obliges the passage to give way?
The chances likely to result upon treatment are about equal, but the process is generally slow. The trephine has to be employed upon the facial sinus, and circular portions of bone have to be removed. Into the openings thus made is to be injected, by means of a pint pewter syringe, half a gallon of tepid water, or water heated to ninety-six degrees, in which half a drachm of chloride of zinc is dissolved. The chloride of zinc not only destroys the fetor, but also disposes the membrane to take on a new action.
The injection, however, only cleanses the sinuses, and the nose also becomes involved by the disease. It is usual to describe the turbinated bones, or the fragile bones situated within the nostrils, as thin osseous structures, making numerous convolutions upon themselves. They favor such an opinion when viewed _in situ;_ but, being removed, are found to consist of ample sacs or bags, which the external layer concealed from view. These hidden spaces soon fill with pus; here it remains; the position of the head even cannot entirely dislodge it, as the head is seldom carried perpendicularly. Here the pus hardens or concretes, until by degrees the cavities are filled with a foul and solid matter.
Such a store-house of disease may thus be opened and cleansed. Mark with chalk or charcoal the spot in a line with the infra-orbital foramen, and a little anterior to the third molar tooth the positions of both may be clearly ascertained by feeling externally upon the head of the living horse. At that place cut through the skin, but no deeper. Make a T incision, only reverse the letter ⊥. Withdraw the two flaps of skin; remove by means of blunt hooks any structures that conceal the bone, upon which last, when clear, employ the trephine.
The side of the face being opened, insert through the opening a steel probe. Thrust it through the concrete pus, and strive to discover the most depending portion of the sac. To this spot, if possible, apply a hollow metallic tube, about twelve inches long. This instrument has a horn-shaped mouth at the blunt extremity, and a fine sharp steel saw at the other. The saw being fixed upon the spot indicated by the probe, and a few revolutions being given to the horn-shaped end, between the palms of the hands, a circular portion of the bony net-work which characterizes the turbinated structures is removed.
Now, so soon as this is accomplished, force through the hollow instrument last employed an elastic probe armed with a piece of linen tape. The probe, being about eighteen inches long, will, by the application of very gentle force, soon glide through the opening last made, and out of the nostril. The tape is, by traction, made to follow, and the ends being tied, a seton is established. By the daily movement of this last contrivance, the concrete matter may effectually be displaced.
This being finished, the syringe is to be daily employed; and the cure may be often expedited by the following ball, which should be given once every twenty-four hours:--
Balsam of copaiba Half an ounce. Cantharides (in powder) Four grains. Cubebs A sufficiency.--_Mix._
Should this appear to affect the urinary system, immediately discontinue it. In its place, half a drachm of belladonna should be rubbed down in one ounce of water, and administered every hour, till all appetite is destroyed, and the drug should be discontinued after this effect is gained. The belladonna, however, should be exhibited only every fourth day.
The lymphatic glands under the horse's jaw occasionally enlarge; but as the affection is destroyed the swelling will disappear. However, the cure may be expedited by commodious lodging and liberal food. It evidently is folly to stint the provender and expect a starved nature to vanquish disease.
HIGH-BLOWING AND WHEEZING.
These peculiarities admit of no pictorial illustration. Obviously, it is impossible to picture a sound. Both affections are known by the noises to which they give rise.
=Highblowing= is complained of only in saddle horses. It consists of forcing the respiration violently through the nostrils, whereby a bur-r-r-r-ing kind of noise is made. This sound children are fond of imitating, when they play "horses;" but in the animal it is unpleasant to the equestrian, because by it the nostrils are cleared, and the trousers of the rider are often soiled. Besides, fashion at present favors a quiet steed. For this habit there is no remedy, except throwing up the horse for harness purposes, in which employment the habit is not generally regarded as objectionable.
=Wheezing= is a thin, whistling noise, heard only during inspiration. It is provoked by some impediment to the breathing, and the cause always resides in the nasal chambers. It is astonishing how small an obstacle engenders this affection. This, like the former peculiarity, is equally incurable. It is easy to stop each nostril, and thus to tell from which the noise proceeds; yet, for its removal, the affection demands a purely experimental destruction of parts, so ample, that even veterinary science shrinks from the attempt.
However, to such chalices the life of a horse is exposed. The indulgence of a habit which adds to the animal's beauty in the eyes of the foot passenger, is regarded as objectionable in one position, while it is admired in another situation; the advent of the smallest excrescence in a large cavity can deteriorate the value of a life. A loss of value entails loss of caste. The life descends to harder work and lessened care. The first step taken, the others rapidly succeed; for it cannot be asserted that, as a general rule, the lower classes appear to advantage, when the custody of a beautiful animal is morally considered.