THOUGHTS ON INFLUENZA. 135 
tion, and such was the difficulty attending respiration, that 
he positively screamed in performing the act, so as to be heard 
at some considerable distance. I had not been with him many 
seconds, however, before he was slightly relieved, and in about 
ten minutes the spasm passed off, leaving him, with the excep- 
tion, of course, of great exhaustion, apparently as well as ever 
he was. Viewing the case as one of spasm of the muscles of 
the glottis, I appjied stimulants, and ordered constant fomen- 
tations to the larynx, and left him with directions to be 
closely watched in case the “ fit” might return. In the 
middle of the night I was again called for in haste, and 
this time the dyspnoea seemed, if possible, worse than before ; 
and it was evident that, if no relief were afforded, the animal 
must soon become suffocated, I accordingly, with some diffi- 
culty, owing to his struggles, performed tracheotomy. The relief 
was instantaneous, and he was soon on his legs and anxious 
to feed. From this time the tracheotomy tube was kept in 
his throat for a week, when, considering that the glottis might 
have resumed its normal functions, I placed a cork in the 
orifice of the tube, and sent him to work as an experiment ; 
ordering the cork to be removed, if any symptom of suffoca- 
tion should come on. We, however, found that the slightest 
effort at exertion being made brought on a fit of dyspnoea, 
and it became evident he could not work without the tube. 
The horse was accordingly sent to his regular work with the 
tube in his trachea, and for three or four months he did his 
accustomed labour with it in. At the end of that time, 
however, by an accident, the tube fell out when he was 
some miles f&m home, and. the horse coming home tolerably 
well without it, the horsekeeper neglected to inform me of it 
for a day or two ; and when I saw my patient, the aperture 
in the muscles of the neck had closed. As the horse now 
seemed to w T ork quite well without the tracheotomy tube, it 
w r as not re-inserted : and from that time to this (more than 
two years), he has not had another attack. 
THOUGHTS ON INFLUENZA. 
By G. Armatage, V.S., Sheffield. 
My last communication having been devoted to the de- 
scription of symptoms in some of the most severe cases of 
“ influenza,” accompanied with intestinal irritation resembling 
