CASES OF (ESOPHAGOTOMY. 
35 
the cause of the urgent symptoms described by the owner, I lost 
no time in seeing him. Upon examination, I found some hard 
foreign body lodged about half way down the oesophagus, and the 
animal exhibiting every symptom of choking. 
Upon making inquiry into the history of the case, I was informed 
that, about a week before, the bull shewed precisely the same 
symptoms for a short period, but ultimately got rid of the tend- 
ency to choking. As the bull was at grass, we could not con- 
ceive how any of the common obstructives (such as a turnip or 
potatoe) could have found their way to him, or him to them. I 
was, therefore, more inclined to think it was the end of a bone 
which he had picked up, and, having recourse with no effect to the 
ordinary means for removing such obstructions, I concluded that 
the only thing I could do was to cut down upon it and remove it, 
as it had been there upwards of forty-eight hours. So, having got 
him properly secured, I commenced the operation by making an 
incision about six inches long, and cautiously dissecting down 
upon the oesophagus. Having thus laid it open, I found to my 
surprise not a bone, but one of those hair-balls sometimes seen in 
the stomach of ruminants, and which must have come there while 
ruminating. During the operation the bull lost very little blood; 
and, having sponged out the wound, I carefully brought the edges 
of the oesophagus together, which were much tumefied and inflamed, 
by three sutures. Then, having brought the integuments together 
by the same means, we unloosed our patient, who immediately rose, 
and appeared nothing the worse. 
Having put him into an empty stable for the night, I observed on 
the next morning a considerable degree of swelling about the wound, 
and, upon giving him a little tepid water, a quantity of it escaped 
by the wound. 
Next day I had him brought to my own premises, in order that 
I might have him more immediately under my care. I continued 
to give him nothing but thin gruel till about the 10th, when he 
again shewed symptoms of choking. We were then under the 
necessity of removing the stitches of the skin. I found a large 
quantity of food from the stomach lodged between the edges of the 
external opening and that of the oesophagus, as well as in the 
oesophagus, which, on being removed, was always followed by a 
like quantity from the same place. 
As the wound had a very unhealthy appearance, and the bull 
was in full condition, I thought it would be much better to have 
him destroyed, the beef being little the worse. 
On the evening of the 11th October, being on my way to visit 
a horse four miles distant, I was asked by a farmer to look at a 
