VETERINARY SURGEON COMES. 481 



■will probably pass on into the stomach. Should this not succeed, 

 then gentle force from above must be resorted to if there is distress, 

 and the veterinary surgeon has not yet appeared. There is a 

 special instrument — the probang — which should be kept in every 

 cattle establishment; but if this is not at hand, then a long piece 

 of rather thick new rope — one end being teased out a little and 

 tied back to make it wider and softer — must serve as a makeshift 

 probang. The rope at this extremity, and for some distance, must 

 be well oiled or greased, and the animal's nose and head being 

 raised in a line with the neck, the tongue is pulled out, the wide 

 end of the rope passed steadily and gently along to the back of the 

 mouth, into and down the gullet, where it may be seen at the left 

 side of the neck. When the obstruction is reached, firm and con- 

 tinuous pressure has to be exerted upon it, a few seconds at a time, 

 until it begins to move ; then it is pushed into the stomach. When 

 this is accomplished, the probang is carefully withdraw^ and a 

 quantity of gruel, and perhaps a stimulant as well, given. When 

 the obstacle is finely divided food, the probang may do harm by 

 pressing it into a firm mass. It is then better to administer oil, 

 gruel, or water, and trust to external manipulation. 



In cattle, when the abdomen is so extremely distended as to 

 threaten suffocation, a knife should be plunged into the right side 

 near the spine, and in front of the haunch-bone. With small 

 animals care is necessary in handling them, in order to avoid being 

 injured. In a form of madness in the dog — " dumb madness" — 

 the mouth gapes as if there were a bone lodged at the back part 

 of the throat; and people have lost their life from hydrophobia, 

 through putting their fingers into the mouth in search of the sup- 

 posed bone, and getting wounded. Gloves should therefore always 

 be worn in these cases. The bone or foreign substance may be 

 seized with the finger, forceps, or pliers, the jaws being held apart 

 by an assistant. 



The cat should be wrapped in a towel before any attempt is 

 made to examine its throat. 



In the case of the horse or cow, sloppy food should be given for 

 some days after choking, especially if much force and manipulation 

 have been required to give relief 



Bleeding from thu Nose, Mouth, Stomach, and Lungs. — 

 Bleeding from the nose and lungs, though not very frequent in 

 animals, yet when it does occur generally causes considerable alarm, 

 and in some cases with good reason, particularly when blood comes 

 from the lungs or stomach. 



Bleeding from the nose is the result of injury to the bones of 

 the face — as from a blow — or to the lining membrane of the nose; 

 as well as to severe coughing, sneezing, over-exertion — particularly 

 31 



