608 
CURIOUS CASE. 
In Germany I had 16 ducklings, a fortnight old ; these 
got into a foul open drain ; all were seized with cramps,* ex- 
cept those that death anticipated, they fell into collapse, and 
died in a short time, without showing any other symptom of 
cholera, w hich might have followed ; but it was the breathing 
impure air from stirring up the filth that proved so quickly 
fatal. 
CURIOUS CASE. 
By J. Htjrford. 
Sir, — Since my return to Bangalore I have been bothered 
with more sickness than has been agreeable ; glanders and far- 
cy-fevers, cynanche no less than four or five, and one which 
is now T under treatment, and is the cause of this note. I have 
invariably found extensive ulceration of the throat ; and my 
treatment has consisted of blisters, constant fomentations, 
steaming the nostrils, gargles, &c., with calomel, and, when 
necessary, tracheotomy. I operated on the present patient, 
and he is doing very well; but this morning I took out the 
tube to close the orifice, and while waiting for some lint, I 
gave him a drink; a great quantity w r as returned by the 
nostrils, but to my great surprise a quantity also came 
through the opening into the trachea ; there was no mistake, 
it was clear w ater, and w 7 as affected by the breathing, being 
splashed out. How is this? some must have gone into 
the lungs, and yet the horse shows no distress. But sup- 
posing there had been no orifice, how many horses have sore 
throat, and how often do we see the water returned by the 
nose, and have w 7 e ever suspected that some of it has gone 
into the lungs? and yet I see no reason why this should be 
an extraordinary case. The horse stood quite tranquilly, and 
appeared to take it as a matter of course. I should like to 
know 7 your ideas ; you may print what I have written if you 
like. Very truly yours. 
Bangalore ; Aug. 19, 1853. 
* Dr. Brown, speaking of the cholera in 1832, says, “ The character of the 
disease varies considerably in the different districts which it invades. Thus, I 
had occasion to observe that in a mining population dispersed over an extensive 
tract of country in the township of Shelton, the disease was attended with less 
collapse than in the lanes and alleys of a populous commercial town, and the 
mortality was, consequently, much less.” The same is the case in India also. 
Mr. Jamieson, in his account of the disease in the Bengal army in 1817, states, 
“ That the ground of the encampment in which cholera prevailed the most was 
low and moist, the water was foul, stagnant, and of a brackish quality, and every- 
where not more than two or three feet from the surface of the earth, and the 
vicinity abounded in animal an4 vegetable putrefied matter ; whereas at Erich, 
where the army regained its health, the situation was high and salubrious, and 
the water clear and pure from a running stream.” 
