RUPTURE AND STRICTURE OF THE GSOPHAGUS. 115 
A few days subsequent to the removal of the obstruction, no matter 
where it may have been situated, feed on soft-boiled food—not bran 
mashes; and in case of roots not being at hand, sustain the life with 
smoothly-made gruel. Let the animal be observed, when watered. 
Should the liquid be returned by the nostrils, injury to the lining mem- 
brane of the esophagus is indicated ; stricture may then be anticipated. 
Though it be not probable that any medicine will now be beneficial, 
nevertheless, as an experiment, administer, thrice daily, four ounces of 
water in which four grains of chloride of zinc have been dissolved. 
Such is a true and brief history of the terrible mishaps that result 
from the mingled knowingness and ignorance which characterize the 
majority of grooms. A good or simple lad would be sadly out of place 
in a modern stable, though the writer should recommend the employment 
of such to become more general. The tricks and arts of professed grooms 
are all worthless or injurious. To such men, however, is the timid horse 
intrusted ; and so much are our minds enslaved by custom, that the hint 
only of employing women in the stable will, no doubt, be received with 
general indignation. Let us, however, endeavor to view the matter 
without prejudice. Women work in the fields ; women fill the situations 
of men as domestic servants; women carry heavy loads; women, on the 
continent, perform the duties of men; women commonly tend an animal 
of inferior intelligence, the cow; women are subordinate to men only 
where strength is concerned. In the stable no strength is required. 
Courage, even, is out of place there. Gentleness is the only quality im- 
perative, and gentleness so habitual that it never will alarm timidity. 
This attribute seems to reside in the feminine mind; and, however opposed 
it may be to habit, the author cannot but lament the barrier which pre- 
vents the horse from becoming known to its natural attendant. 
RUPTURE AND STRICTURE OF THE GSOPHAGUS. 
The gullet or esophagus of the horse is, perhaps, the most compact 
and delicate structure in a beautiful body. Its mucous lining membrane is 
thrown into minute folds, thereby announcing to the studious anatomist 
the degree of extension the tube was designed to endure. Its exterior’is 
enveloped by a large mass of cellular tissue, by which means the inde- 
pendence of its motion is secured; it will permit of less violence than 
almost any other part. Small as its channel and delicate as its lining 
membrane are, the tube is amply large and strong enough for a creature 
which masticates long before it deglutates once, and which is by nature 
forbidden to regurgitate. 
However, stable-men seek not to understand but love to master the 
