H4 VETERINARY LECTURES 



be given in a sloppy mash of bran night and morning. Some 

 years ago I had a very severe case, which had been under the care 

 of an unqualified man, who treated it for influenza. On examination, 

 I found a large thorn, composed of three branches, the middle one 

 about 10 inches long, and the two shorter ones each about 7 inches 

 in length, sticking in the throat. This I pulled out, after it had been 

 there three weeks ; but the animal eventually turned a ' roarer,' 

 when I performed tracheotomy. The horse wore the tube, and worked 

 daily in a miller's cart for over twenty years. 



239. Postpharyngeal Abscesses — the formation of matter 

 or pus at the back of the throat. Cattle suffer very much from 

 these scrofulous or tubercular abscesses. They cause the animal to 

 make a great noise — a kind of snoring — in the breathing, so much 

 so at times that tracheotomy has to be performed, thus allowing free 

 respiration until the abscess is ready to open, which may be done 

 through the mouth. I have operated on a number of these cases 

 through the mouth with the small-finger embryotomy knife. As 

 soon as the patient is better, it should be fattened right away and 

 sent to the butcher. Tumours with long necks — polypi — are also 

 found in the throat, producing somewhat similar symptoms to the 

 abscesses just described, but they are readily twisted out by the hand. 



240. Choking. — Partial or total obstruction of the gullet. Some 

 horses, especially those that are greedy feeders — if the com is not 

 carefully spread out on the bottom of the manger — will take too big a 

 mouthful and choke themselves. Sometimes a piece of turnip or 

 potato sticks in the gullet, but this is very rare in the horse. The 

 symptoms of choking in the horse are rather peculiar ; the animal 

 stands in a crouching position, with the hind-legs forward under the 

 belly, while the head and neck are extended, and saliva flows from 

 the mouth ; the nose is pointed up and straight out, with the back of 

 the head seemingly pulled backward and down, giving a remarkable 

 convexity to the lower portion of the neck. The action of the 

 muscles of the neck every now and again gives the impression that 

 the patient is trying to eject the lodgment, and the horse occasionally 

 gives a peculiar scream and falls down on the knees (Fig. 4). In 



