DISEASES OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS. 



47 



(sarcosporidia) found so often in the muscular walls of the œsopha- 

 gus of the horse, play a certain part in the production of simple 

 dilatations. 



Zenker divides the jabots, according to the mechanism producing 

 them, into jabots caused by eccentric dilatation, and those produced 

 by traction. The first are produced when the wall of the œsopha- 

 gus gives way at a certain point, where resistance has been weak- 

 ened under the pressure of the alimentary bolus, as happens when 

 the organ is wounded. Others are provoked by cicatricial retrac- 

 tion taking place in the peri-œsophageal connective tissue, or in a 

 neighboring organ or ganglion, or after some traumatic lesion. 

 The mechanism producing these jabots may be likened to that of 

 bronchiectasia consecutive to interstitial pneumonia. 



Most of the jabots are of small size and of discoid form, but 

 some of them take in almost the whole length of the œsophagus. 

 Stockfleth has observed a dilatation measuring almost one and 

 a half metre in length, and nine centimetres in diameter at its 

 centre ; their very variable capacity may reach, and even surpass, 

 that of a bucket. Sometimes they contract adhesions with neigh- 

 boring organs, particularly with the trachea. According to Stock- 

 fleth, jabots are. almost always located on the cervical portion of 

 the œsophagus in the horse and on the thoracic portion in the ox. 



Œsophageal ectasis is not very rare in animals. It is mainly 

 found in the horse and ox, sometimes in the sheep (Ercolani), the 

 goat (Gilis), and the dog. 



Symptoms. They are almost the same in all cases, regardless 

 of the length and diameter of the dilatation ; but ectases develop- 

 ing slowly are shown only by very obscure signs at the start. 



Before other symptoms appear, the appetite becomes capricious ; 

 at times the animals are under the influence of an insatiable craving ; 

 again, they will hardly touch their food. A loss of flesh, gradually 

 becoming more marked, is also observed. This condition may last 

 for years without becoming aggravated, and sometimes without 

 seriously attracting attention. In most cases vomiting is added 

 to the symptoms. Ingurgitated matters are often rejected through 

 the nose, at more or less extended intervals after meals ; they are 

 always coated with mucus, and, on account of their prolonged 

 sojourn in the œsophagus, they may have undergone a slight 

 fermentation. They are never digested, as has been stated ; the 

 nausea can only result in the rejection of a certain quantity of 

 alimentary matter contained in the jabot. 



