82 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OP 



the tip of the lips. The whipstock was three feet six inches 

 in length, and, according to the testimony of the operator and 

 others, six or eight inches of the same never entered the mouth ; 

 computing the medium at seven inches, the reader will perceive 

 that the diseased location was just seven inches beyond the 

 reach of the instrument. 



How, then, are we to account for the death of the animal ? 



I shall try to satisfy the reader on this point. The animal, 

 at the time of purchase, had not recovered from the pain, labor, 

 and excitement of parturition ; she was an invalid ; in the 

 same condition, yet less well provided for than her lordly 

 mistress, who has the advantages of science, skill, and sympa- 

 thy, to alleviate her woes, and mitigate her pains. The poor 

 brute was compelled to perform a journey, when she ought to 

 have been kept at rest, and kindly cared for. The common 

 sympathies of our race ought to have been extended to her ; 

 she ought to have been dosed with groaning cordial, instead of 

 cornstalks ; and, instead of performing a journey through apple 

 orchards, she ought to have been kept at home until health and 

 strength re-appeared. 



Changes in food, location^ and ham management, are at 

 times, and under certain circumstances, operative in inducing 

 disease, especially when the subject be in a weak or delicate 

 condition. Cornstalks, therefore, being very indigestible, tend 

 to overtax and irritate the stomach, and the oil, probably, in- 

 duced nausea. In efforts at vomiting, the rough particles of 

 food found a lodgment at the point indicated, where they accu- 

 mulated, produced irritation, inflammation, and, finally, mortifi- 

 cation. The direct cause of death, therefore, was ob^ruction 

 within the gullet; the morbid appearances were the conse- 

 quence of the same. 



The best instrument I know of for the accident of choking, 

 or obstruction within the gullet, is a flexible probang : but, as that 

 instrument is not always to be obtained, every farmer should 

 be provided with the next best instrument, which consists of a 

 piece of smooth, flexible rattan, about five feet in length, armed 

 at one end with an oblong ivory ball, which must be securely 



