176 DADIYS VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGEL*% 
some cause or vther. A man or animal may oe disessed withuut 
our expression »f the manner in which either are affected, just aa 
a flower may be said to be colored without designat‘ng its part ic- 
aiar hue. In each case we receive definite, alth ugh negative, 
ideas---in the one, that the creature is not in healtl ; in the other, 
that the flower is not colorless. And so the same reasoning may 
apply when bots become the subject of our consi erztion. In a 
given case, they may prove injurious (according to ovr ideas), and 
in another they may remain, for a certain length of time, perfect!y 
harmless ; so that the animal infected or infested 1 1ay or may no‘ 
suffer any infliction, but trot on through the journey of life just 
as long as horse-life is worth wearing. 
As regards the several modes of death to hors. flesh, in which 
bots are said to play an active part, they may thus be stated: 
Bots sometimes congregate, in large numbers, at the superior or 
inferior inlet or outlet of the stomach, and thus produce mechan- 
ical obstruction to the passage of both semi-fluids and solids; and 
the result is, equine death. The author once held an autopsy 
which revealed the pre..ence of a cluster of bots, uumbering about 
one hundred, located in the cardiac region of the esophagus. 
They completely obstructed the passage of food into the stomach. 
The horse died suddenly, as if suffocated, from distension of the 
esophagus and pressure on the trachea. 
The following case, furnished for the “ Veterinarian” by Sur- 
geon MATHER, illustrates another mode of death from the pres- 
ence of bots: 
“The inclosed tongue and larynx I took from a foal this even- 
ing, which I shall feel obliged to you for examining, as at the base 
of the tongue you will find about a score of what appear to me ta 
be perfeet specimens of a small bot. I have only made a partial 
examination, as I was anxious to send the specimen off to you 
before it became decomposed, as the weather is very hot. The 
history of the case is as follows: Two days ago I was requested te 
go to Lord Glasgow’s breeding establishment, to see a foal that 
was unwell. I[ inquired of the stud-groom how long the animal 
had been ill, and he informed me that three days ago it appeared 
to have a difficulty in swallowing, and that he noticed some saliva 
issuing from its mouth; and that, thinking it had a sore throat, 
ke had rubbed some embrocation upon the parts. On examining 
the animal. I found it in a very debilitated state. Pulse, very 
