FOREIGN BODIES IN PHARYNX AND CESOPHAGUS OF HORSE. 415 



consist of pieces of carrot, potatoes, hay, boluses, eggs, or grass. 

 Greedy feeders supplied with soft hay are common sufferers. A 

 considerable section of the oesophagus is sometimes blocked, and the 

 condition may recur at short intervals. Mollereau observed several 

 recurrences within fourteen days. Graf found the oesophagus filled 

 with hay throughout. The thoracic portion, or lower cervical portion 

 is usually the seat of the stoppage. Walther saw a horse whose 

 gullet became occluded in consequence of its swallowing a safety 

 pin which had perforated the oesophagus transversely. 



Symptoms. Animals cease feeding, slobber at the mouth, make 

 choking movements, and stand with extended neck, and strained, 

 anxious countenance. Any food or water taken is discharged from 

 the nose. Not even the saliva can be swallowed, and in pharyngeal 

 cases cough is often distressing. Considerable quantities of fodder 

 accumulated in the thoracic gullet may press on the trachea and 

 produce dyspnoea. Foreign bodies in the cervical gullet may be 

 recognised by swelling, or detected by palpation. In the horse cervical 

 choking is seldom dangerous, as the material generally softens, and 

 passes downwards, and boluses and pieces of oil-cake, as well as 

 hay and grass, may thus be removed without external assistance. 

 The condition becomes graver, and horses may die, when such 

 hard substances as eggs, boluses, etc., remain fixed in the thoracic 

 portion, producing pressure on the trachea, and possibly suffocation, 

 or mechanical pneumonia. Food and drink attempted to be taken 

 are returned into the pharynx, and thence may enter the trachea. 



Treatment must take cognisance of this danger. All food should 

 be removed, but, after a time, a little water may be given to discover 

 if the animal can swallow. Foreign bodies, fixed in the upper portion 

 of the oesophagus, may be removed by displacing them upwards 

 into the pharynx with the fingers. Immelmann administered 

 pilocarpine, which produced excessive salivation, lubricating both 

 the obstruction and its surroundings, thus facilitating the former 

 being swallowed. This remedy increases, however, the danger of 

 mechanical pneumonia, and caution is required in employing it. 

 The probang or oesophageal sound can be used in quiet horses without 

 casting them, but with greater difficulty and danger than in oxen. 

 Walther dislodged a potato with it, but hay often presents con- 

 siderable resistance, and injury may be done if force be used. It 

 is, therefore, best to wait quietly for twenty-four to forty-eight hours, 

 when the material generally passes downwards. 



The usual oesophageal sound for the horse is a solid whalebone 

 rod, | inch thick, and about seven feet long, with a conical expansion 



