428 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



open by means of an active purgative, according to 

 the following recipe : 



Sulphate of soda i pound, 



Powdered caraway seeds . . i ounce, 

 Oatmeal gruel i quart. 



CHOKING 



Is the name given to a mechanical obstruction to 

 the passage of food from the mouth to the stomach. 

 This obstruction may take place in the pharynx or 

 entrance to the oesophagus or gullet, or about half- 

 way down the oesophagus, or where the oesophagus 

 ends in the stomach. The cause given rise to the 

 arrest is generally the shape and not the size of the 

 article swallowed. A turnip sliced, rarely chocks a 

 cow, but if the animal be allowed to eat it with her 

 teeth, the last portion of it swallowed is prone to stick, 

 it being now more or less pointed and irregular in its 

 outline. 



Choking never results in the passage of the food 

 from the rumen to the stomach, as the bolus or food is 

 preceded by a quantity of fluid which lubricates, and at 

 same time distends the walls of the oesophagus. 

 There has been invented by Mr Alexander, a farmer 

 of Tweeddale, a useful instrument, called a probang, for 

 pushing down the food when it sticks in the throat, 

 which can be had of all instrument-makers who deal in 

 implements for the use of farmers. But where 

 farmers or others do not possess this instrument, a 

 substitute may be made in the following manner. 



Three small canes of about five and a half or 

 six feet long, are firmly bound together by waxed 

 twine, rolled closely round its whole length. To the 

 extremity of the canes is attached an elongated knob, 



