CONTRIBUTIONS TO ZOOLOGICAL PATHOLOGY. 67 
ing horses possess, some have been known to jump over bars or 
fences higher than themselves; and Nimrod — the late Mr. Ap- 
perley — relates an instance in which a hunter cleared seven yards 
of space*. Ponies, in general, for their size, are better leapers 
than large horses : this appears to arise from greater concentration 
of power combined with the less weight they have to move. 
Thorough-bred horses are seldom clever leapers; a circumstance 
owing, apparently, to their deficiency in rearing powers. 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO ZOOLOGICAL PATHOLOGY. 
By James Mercer, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Sur- 
geons, and Lecturer on Anatomy, Edinburgh . 
PART II. — On Sudden Death by Suffocation , consequent on 
“ Primitive (Edema Glottidis .” 
In the last Number of The Veterinarian, a very interesting 
case of “ laryngitis” in the horse is recorded by Mr. C. Percivall, 
of the Royal Horse Infirmary, Woolwich, and which, under his 
judicious and excellent treatment, was restored to a state of per- 
fect health. As these cases are, fortunately, not of very frequent 
occurrence in the lower animals, and especially where an opportu- 
nity is afforded for examining into the necroscopic appearances, 
I have considered the subjoined case of sufficient interest to be 
placed on record, — partly as explanatory of the case above alluded 
to, but chiefly to direct the attention of the veterinary practitioner 
to the fact, that sudden death may occur from circumstances inde- 
pendent of the usually received causes, connected immediately 
with the nervous or vascular systems. 
The term “ oedema glottidis,” is that which is usually applied 
to the variety of inflammation of the laryngeal apparatus, in 
which the submucous tissue of the dermo-mucous folds bounding 
the anterior slit of the larynx becomes infiltrated with serous fluid, 
to a greater or less extent, while the surrounding surface of the 
mucous membrane may be comparatively free from or exhibit no 
signs of the existence of inflammation. Its approach is commonly 
very insidious, preceded either by catarrhal inflammation of the 
facial or pharyngeal cavities, or tracheitis; and in man it most 
frequently results from the spreading inflammation attending ulcer- 
* I saw an account the other day in the “ Sporting Magazine” of a horse 
in a steeple-chase making “ a jump of twenty-two feet.” 
