CHOKING. 



163 



were occasionally used to relieve choking cattle. He had a 

 hollow tube made six feet long, and which was especially 

 devised to relieve in cases of tympa- & 



nitis; but it proves the best instru- 

 ment to press a turnip or other such 

 substance down the neck. It should 

 be used cautiously. A gag is fixed 

 in the animal's mouth, the head is 

 stretched out, and the probang pushed 

 steadily along, until it reaches the of- 

 fending mass, when, by gentle pres- 

 sure, it often causes the latter to pass 

 onwards. In the horse, the probang 

 may be passed through the nose, but 

 the instrument is not so manageable 

 in this animal. When, by well-di- 

 rected efforts, the obstruction is re- 

 moved, the probang may be cleared 

 of the stilet, which usually occupies its 

 interior, and through the aperture the 

 gas freely escapes. (See Fig. 81, a.) 

 A light gutta percha probang, without 

 stilet, and provided with a perforated 

 bulb at the end, is perhaps the cheap- 

 est and best which can be used. A 

 pair of forceps, as represented by b, 

 Fig. 81, may be of some use occasion- 

 ally, but not often. 



IV. Puncture. If perchance an 

 egg remains fixed in the cervical por- 

 tion of the gullet a rare accident 

 now-a-days the horse may be relieved Fig. si. 



by crushing the offending object. This is not an easy opera- 



