116 RUPTURE AND STRICTURE OF THE @SOPHAGUS. 
quadruped intrusted to their charge. The butt-end of a carter’s whip is 
a favorite resort with these people, whether serving some farmer or 
acting as grooms to some lord. When any mighty specific happens to 
stick in its passage to the stomach, the butt-end of the whip is employed 
to drive the obstinate charm onward. Should the obstruction be situated 
low down, the whip is neither small enough nor pliable enough to touch 
the offending matter. Should the choking mass be lodged high up, by 
compelling it beyond the reach of human hand, positive injury is done, 
and ultimate relief is rendered very problematical indeed ; however, 
ignorance is not often to be deterred by difficulties. As the passage 
narrows, greater violence is resorted to; the men push and strive till at 
last the whip moves onward, and the stable-men congratulate each other 
upon “all being right at last.” 
When the whip seemed to yield, something more than the obstruction 
gave way; the walls of the canal were ruptured; an almost inevitable 
death then awaits the unfortunate animal. The food is rejected; drink 
is refused; the creature stands motionless, the picture of horror; it 
seems to comprehend and to await its approaching fate. The neck 
begins to swell; the swelling creeps on till it invests the entire body. 
Gas has found entrance into the cellular tissue, through the divided 
gullet. Death at last ensues, because the inflation impedes the vital 
functions, and, being corruptive, is incompatible with the preservation 
of living organism. 
More often, however, the whip only tears the internal membrane; the 
obstruction has been dislodged and removed, but a worse evil has been 
created. The horse for a time refuses food, 
The dilated cesophagus or sac and the anxious master wonders “‘ what can be 
eet the matter!” At last the pain may cease, the 
appetite return, for nature may strive to repair 
the damage. The whip usually tears a flap 
of membrane, which, obedient to the laws of 
gravity, hangs pendant within the esophagus. 
Our common parent, however, does not, after the 
human pattern, repair the evil which man induces. 
She has no mortal hand wherewith to restore 
the rent membrane to its place. The sides of 
the wound, however, strive to unite, and by the 
The tube of its natural size, Gate when this junction is accomplished, the 
STRICTURE OF THE Esornacts. Mucous membrane being inelastic, the magni- 
tude of the canal is seriously diminished. Na- 
ture seems to feel that the chief strain of deglutition will be upon this 
lessened spot, which, therefore, she endeavors to support and strengthen. 
The Stricture. 
