164 FEVERS, 



tracheotomy. 



The tube will require to be taken out from time to time, 

 and cleansed. The animal ought to be watched; and it 

 should be abundantly supplied with well-made water gruel, 

 which, after a time, will be drunk with avidity. It often 

 happens, however, after the operation, that, through the 

 difficulty of swallowing becoming lessened, our patient re- 

 gains the power of deglutating aliment of a nature which is 

 soft and easy of mastication, such as (in summer time) 

 grass and other moist succulent provender, — and, in winter, 

 mashes, grains, scalded oats, boiled carrots, potatoes, tur- 

 nips, &c. Should the case take a favorable turn, the 

 breathing tube may be removed, when the respiration be- 

 comes sufficiently free. I have on two or three occasions, by 

 the performance of this operation, saved my patients from 

 suffocation. There is no sort of danger attendant on it : 

 indeed, the only inconvenience consequent on it worth men- 

 tioning is the momentary embarrassment and annoying sen- 

 sations it occasions every time the animal coughs: the partial 

 escape of the air through the artificial aperture rendering a 

 violent effort necessary. Should any person be near, the 

 extra effort 'may be rendered unnecessary by simply placing 

 the fingers over thfe' brifice during the cough, and thus 

 sending all the breath through the larynx. 



Bird's (V.S. 8th Hussars) mode of operating for tra- 

 cheotomy is to slit the trachea longitudinally open to the 



