200 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



times appears close to the first grinder. Tliis, of course, does 

 no harm, and should therefore never be removed. 



The practice of tying a horse's tongue to prevent him from run- 

 ning away may not be frequent, but I have known it done, and the 

 loss of the tongue was the consequence. Three cases of this kind 

 I have met with ; one I was told of by the person who did it, and 

 who cut off the SAVollen part of the tongue to relieve the animal 

 from his intolerable sufferings, the ligature being buried in the 

 enormous swelling that had taken place. Two others I have 

 heard of, in which the tongue was literally drawn out by the 

 roots. The most common manner in which the tongue is 

 wounded is, by the horse hanging back Avhen he is tied up with 

 a coil of the halter in his mouth and over the tongue ; or, as it 

 is vulgarly termed, with a cheio or chaio in his mouth.* The 

 organs of swallowing may be injured by the practice of giving 

 balls, especially when they are large or hard. A morbid state 

 of the pharynx is thereby induced, which renders deglutition 

 difficult, and sometimes impossible, the lower part of the pharynx 

 acquiring a moi'bid irritability, which causes it to contract upon 

 the approach of the food, and return it into the nostrils, or into 

 the mouth, where it is often re- masticated, and at length thi'own 

 out into the manger like a quid of tobacco.j Such horses have 

 been named qnidders by dealers, and are considered of little or 

 no value : such cases are often incurable, and sometimes so 

 because not understood. Were the horse, in the early stage 

 of the disease, kept a few weeks on gruel and bran-mashes, and 

 then turned to ffrass, the muscles of deglutition would sometimes 

 gradually recover their lost power. 



I have lately met with a case, in a mare, where both swallow- 

 ing and breathing were impeded by ulceration of the pharynx, 

 or upper part of the oesophagus or gullet, produced probably by 

 her having swallowed hastily some hard or sharp substance, 

 such as a stub of wood, or the unchewed stalk of a dock, thistle, 

 fern, or bramble. The pain and irritation which swallowing 

 occasioned caused coufijhino; and some of the food to be thrown 

 into the nostrils, and some into the larynx, where it produced a 

 great deal of pain and difficulty in breathing, so much so that 

 they were about to destroy the animal. But I affin'ded gi'eat 

 relief by making an opening in the windpipe, and passing a 

 sui'geon's probang into the opening, and up through the larynx, 



* The Editor lias met with many cases in which the tongue has been 

 flivided in this manner, and a good portion of it cut off; but though the 

 horses for some time were unable to take their accustomed food, yet the 

 remaining portion of the tongue gradually accommodated itself to the mouth, 

 becoming llatter and flexible, and at length capable of gathering up the food 

 as well as before. 



f Sometimes there is a partial palsy of the muscles employed in deglutition, 

 by which the animal has been gradually starved. 



