448 
ON THE CHOKING OF CATTLE. 
in the administration and the after-effects, should a portion of it 
happen to get into the air-passages. 
Having endeavoured to point out the dangers of an improper 
system of administering medicine, it may be expected that some- 
thing will be said as to how it may be done with safety. And 
this, a very little attention to the physiology of the act of swallow- 
ing will enable us to do. Left to itself, as has already been stated, 
the animal drinks with its head in the depending position. Giving 
it fluid under constraint, this can hardly be effected ; but the nearer 
we approximate to it the better. The head should therefore be 
elevated ahove the horizontal position as much only as will suffice 
to cause the fluid to gravitate to the back part of the mouth. By 
this precaution the animal has a voluntary control over the organs 
of deglutition which it has not when the mouth is much elevated. 
In addition to this, the respiratory action of the nostrils should be 
entirely free, and, if possible, the motions of the tongue and lower 
jaw unimpeded. To obtain these conditions, and at the same time 
secure the animal properly, one of two ways may be adopted. 
Either the hand may be placed in the mouth, the fingers pressing 
upon and retaining the upper jaw, while the head is firmly seized 
between the arm and thigh ; or, the cervix or neck of the lower 
jaw may be grasped in the hand, the thumb being in the mouth 
immediately behind the incisor teeth and under the tongue. By 
either of these ways, with the aid of an assistant (when necessary) 
standing on the opposite side from the administrator and holding 
the horns or ears, almost any animal may be secured while getting 
medicine. With very strong or turbulent animals, such as bulls, 
or in phrenitic diseases, where much excitement exists, additional 
measures may become necessary. In such cases an additional 
power may be obtained by means of a strong soft rope fastened 
round the cervix of the lower jaw, and the ends held by an assist- 
ant on each side ; or, as a last resort, in preference to casting the 
animal, a ring or nose-piece may be had recourse to. By nose- 
piece, I mean an iron instrument now pretty common in the coun- 
try under various names, but exceedingly useful for securing bulls 
or other refractory animals. It is made something in the form of 
a horse-shoer’s pincers, with a knob at the extremity of each blade, 
and a slip secured with a spring or screw to keep the blades toge- 
ther. By means of this a much firmer hold is obtained than by 
the hand, and at the same time the respiratory action of the nos- 
trils much less interfered with. But before adopting any of these 
desperate measures, it is at all times advisable to have the assist- 
ance of well-qualified parties to apply them. 
No attempt should be made (as I have sometimes seen done by 
thoughtless individuals) to fasten the head up to rings, posts, or 
