656 
DEATH OF A PONY FROM A SPONGE. 
From these symptoms 1 concluded that he was choked, but I could 
not see or detect any thing in the oesophagus. I put a balling-iron 
into his mouth, in order to examine the upper part of the oesopha- 
gus and pharynx, but I found that I could not get my hand far 
enough. I next passed a small probang half way down the oeso- 
phagus, but, it being only one used for sheep, I could not continue 
it into the stomach. We then drenched him with some oil and 
gruel, but were able to get only little of it down, as he either could 
not or would not swallow. 
In about an hour after these symptoms became worse — respira- 
tion much increased, tongue becoming livid, eyes staring, Schnei- 
derian membrane highly injected, great anxiety — and, on placing my 
ear to the trachea, especially near the chest, I could hear him breathe 
with great difficulty, something like a broken- winded horse, and 
as if he drew the air in and forced it out of the lungs with great 
difficulty. 
From the existence of the foregoing symptoms, I was deter- 
mined to bleed him, in the hope that it might relax any spasm of 
the muscles surrounding any obstruction, and also relieve the in- 
creased respiration and determination of blood to the head. I 
therefore abstracted about five quarts of blood from him, which 
issued in a very fluent stream, and was becoming a little dark 
coloured. This bleeding evidently relieved the more violent symp- 
toms for a time, but still his respiration continued sadly too quick, 
and very similar to a broken- winded animal. 
In an hour or little more after the bleeding he again became rest- 
less, but not so violent as at first — his pulse was more natural, 
and his body and legs tolerably warm. On applying my ears to the 
larynx and windpipe, I could discover that there was a consider- 
able obstruction therein from some cause, even more than I could 
imagine to be produced by mere pressure on the trachea. We 
continued occasionally to horn down small quantities of oil and 
gruel, but I fancy little went down. A small quantity, however, 
certainly did. It would seem, that by lifting the head, in order to 
drench him, pain and difficult respiration were produced. 
P.M. — About this time he died. During the whole period 
that he lived his respiration continued to be considerably increased, 
and a peculiar heavy wheezing sound continued in his trachea, 
sometimes worse than at others, but always laboured. Most of the 
time, except when we were walking him about, he would stand 
tolerably still in the stable, but was evidently uneasy and in 
pain, would now and then cough violently, and make a squealing 
noise. The coughing appeared to give him excessive pain. A con- 
siderable quantity of slaver was constantly issuing from his mouth. 
A little before he died he was standing up, and looked almost as 
