PARALYSIS OF THE PHARYNX AND (ESOPHAGUS. 433 



She soon died, and examination showed the left superior maxillary 

 sinus filled with food, mechanical pneumonia existed, and the left 

 half of the soft palate was atrophied (" only rudiments existed "), 

 while the wall of the pharynx on the left side was dilated in a pouch- 

 like form. Pharyngeal paralysis was also seen in an army horse, 

 but disappeared after eight days' treatment with strychnine. 



Reports as to inability to swallow appear enigmatical. The horses 

 can take food, chew, and swallow in the usual way, but are unable to make 

 drinking movements. They go greedily towards the water, make snapping 

 movements with the lips, and move the tongue without being able to 

 take a single swallow of water. Friedberger and Frohner believed that a 

 congenital defect existed in the nervous centre (sucking centre). But 

 it is remarkable that the animals under these circumstances had lived 

 so long, the one mentioned by Friedberger being eight years old. 



Symptoms. Inability to swallow, especially if associated with 

 stoppage of the oesophagus with food, reveals the nature of the case. 

 It is often noted in rabid dogs that the animals attempt to drink, 

 but that little or none is swallowed. It is difficult to determine 

 whether the inability to swallow depends alone on the masticatory 

 muscle paralysis or in part on paralysis of the pharynx. 



Treatment. It is of primary importance to attempt the removal 

 of the frequently existing obstruction in the oesophagus, and for 

 this end the probang is most useful. Appropriate diet must also 

 be given. Drugs are of little use, though strychnine might be tried. 

 It is more hopeful to treat the general conditions to which the disease 

 is sometimes due. 



(6.) TUMOURS IN THE PHARYNX AND (ESOPHAGUS. 



Such tumours are more common in cattle than in other animals. 

 New growths in this region have long been recognised ; their gravity 

 depends upon their nature. Roloff considered them to be retention 

 tumours, arising from the mucous glands of the pharynx. Harms 

 declared them to be lymphomata, but the conviction has gained 

 ground that they are usually cases of actinomycosis. They generally 

 develop singly on the posterior upper wall of the pharynx, under 

 the sphenoid bone, or close above and behind the larynx. Harms 

 named the former, which usually attain the size of an apple, " anterior," 

 the latter, which are commonly much larger, " posterior pharyngeal 

 actinomyconiata." Considering their frequency in cattle, infection 

 is doubtless often produced by food containing actinomyces. The 

 comparatively thin, tender mucous membrane injured by the passage 



U.S. p F 



