Accidents and Operations. 401 
CESOPHAGOTOMY. 
This operation is sometimes necessary, when the means 
named in the previous section for relief in choking have 
failed. Mr. A. E. Macgillivray, V.S., Banff, records a case 
recently, in which esophagotomy was performed byamedical 
gentleman :—“ The animal being properly and conveniently 
secured on a table, was put under chloroform, and Dr. J.C. 
Hirschfeld operated. After making a pretty large cuti- 
cular incision, and cutting cautiously through the subjacent 
dermal muscle, the doctor dissected down between the 
sterno-maxillary and mastoido-humeral muscles of the left 
side, and thus on to the obstructed cesophagus behind the 
trachea; and here it may be remarked that this was the 
more easily accomplished, owing to the absence in the dog 
of the omo or subscapulo-hyoidean muscle, which passes 
(partly crosswise) along the outside of the trachea. Having 
arrived at and laid bare the obstructed part of the gullet, a 
pretty free incision was made in the same, and, with much 
difficulty the doctor extracted two of the coccygeal vertebrae 
of an ox! One of these vertebrae measured about two inches 
across the transverse processes, and nearly an inch and a 
half vertically ; the other was a little less in size. 
“Dr. Hirschfeld closed up the wound in the cesophagus 
with continuous sutures of prepared catgut, and the external 
wound with interrupted sutures of horse-hair, The stitching 
of the gullet was an extremely difficult job, but was very 
successfully done. 
“ The dog was restricted to entirely fluid sustenance for 
several days, and the wound kept clean and dressed outside 
and inside with a weak solution of carbolic acid. 
“A most satisfactory and complete recovery soon ensued, 
the animal being, apparently, not a whit the worse for the 
very serious operation.”* 
* “Veterinary Journal,” January, 1878. 
