OPERATION FOR OBSTRUCTION IN THE GULLET. 283 



of wood taken away ; the stilett is then returned to its sheath, and 

 may be made to project a couple of inches beyond the knob. It is 

 retracted, and the tube is passed into the throat ; when it will be 

 evident that the operator may use either the comparatively broad 

 part of the knob, or the small and sharp stilett, as the case may seem 

 to require. To the first he can only apply simple pressure — to the 

 stilett he can give a percussive action. By sharply pushing down the 

 handle of the stilett, he will make the other end act with the power 

 of a little hammer, and thus may break down, and probably work 

 through, the centre of the root, as in the case which has been 

 just related. A perforation having been made through the centre, 

 and the obstruction having been previously torn and weakened by the 

 screw, the whole may gradually be broken down, or will more readily 

 yield to pressure. 



These directions have been founded on the supposition that tne 

 foreign body is lodged in the gullet above the entrance into the 

 thorax ; and if the operator fails in all these contrivances, perhaps he 

 will now admit, although reluctantly, the application of external force. 

 It has been recommended to place a small piece of wood against the 

 gullet, and in contact with that portion of the skin which covers the 

 obstructing body, and then, with a wooden mallet, to hammer away 

 against the opposite side. The root has been thus occasionally 

 broken down, and then forced on with the cart-whip ; but more 

 frequently the beast has been sadly punished, without any good effect 

 having been produced ; and, in some instances, although the nuisance 

 was for a while got rid of, so much tenderness of the gullet remained, 

 and inflammation arose, and ran to such an extent, that the animal 

 did not regain its appetite for many weeks afterwards, or pined away, 

 and became comparatively worthless. The practitioner will, therefore, 

 unwillingly have recourse to this, and will be justified in first seeing 

 what bleeding will do. There is not a more powerful relaxant than 

 bleeding — and especially when it is carried on, if necessary, to abso- 

 lute fainting. For awhile every spasmodic action ceases, and every 

 muscular fibre loses its power to contract. The operator wmII, proba- 

 bly, take advantage of the momentary relaxation, in order to force 

 the body either upward or downward — upward first, and by far in 

 preference ; or if downward, yet still cautiously balancing in his 

 mind the degree of resistance with the chance of ultimate success ; 

 for, if the resistance continues to be considerable, he may depend 

 upon it that when he has arrived at the thorax, all further efforts will 

 be fruitless, and the patient will be lost. 



He has one last resource, and he needs not to be so afraid of ven- 

 turing upon it. There is the operation of oesophacfotomy, or the cut- 

 ting down upon the obstruction, and thus removing it. The veteri- 

 nary surgeon will never find, or ought never to find, difficulty here. 

 After having passed a httle way down the neck, the cesophagus is 



