STEICTUEE OF THE (ESOPHAGUS 165 



diminution of the swelling on pressure, and the peculiar 

 character of the contents distinguished by manipulation, 

 enable the practitioner to detect the nature of the lesion. 



Professor Hertwig recommends cesophagotomy and the 

 resection of the lips of the wound made in the gullet in order 

 to diminish the diameter of the canal. Pressure may, in 

 some instances, answer the purpose of removing the swelling, 

 and eventually favouring a contraction of the tube. 



STEICTUEE OF THE OESOPHAGUS. 



This is a condition the reverse of the foregoing, but not 

 unfrequently associated with it. That is to say, if in any 

 animal the gullet becomes constricted from the constant 

 tendency to accumulation of material above the seat of stric- 

 ture, the canal becomes there dilated, and it is evident that 

 the worst form of choking may be met with in these deformi- 

 ties of the gullet. 



The symptoms are: difficulty in deglutition, and the 

 occasional regurgitation of food or liquids swallowed. It 

 is the persistent nature or frequent appearance of these 

 symptoms which draw the attention of any observer to the 

 neck, and the stricture may be discovered by the peculiar 

 dilatation above it when the animal attempts to swallow, or 

 by the passage of a probang. 



There are cases of stricture due to thickening of the 

 coats or cancer, melanosis or other deposit around the tube. 

 These are all incurable varieties of the lesion, which, indeed, 

 is at all times a very troublesome and dangerous one. The 

 most common cause of stricture is injury from operations. 



Treatment consists in attention to the animal's diet, and 

 in well-defined cases of stricture the knife may be advan- 

 tageously employed. 



