500 
INJECTION OF FLUIDS INTO THE STOMACH. 
After some reflection, I applied the common elastic horse catheter 
to the ordinary enema syringe : the tube I then introduced into 
the nostril, and easily propelled it so far that the instrument almost 
touched the nose. By this means I was enabled to give whatever 
I pleased in a liquid state, and I have given a pail of gruel in a 
few minutes. 
The process is very simple, and, so far as I have ascertained, it 
is attended with no danger. It may, with safety, be tried upon a 
sound horse, who will offer far less resistance than might be ima- 
gined. May I so far presume as to request you will make the 
experiment ; and for the assurance of your readers, and the inte- 
rests of our science, report in what degree the result corroborated 
my assertion] 
The catheter should, in the first instance, be bent at the end, so 
that it may dip through the posterior opening of the nasal chamber. 
Having given this slight curve to the extremity of the tube, I pass 
it along the floor of the cavity, and generally it glides onwards 
with facility. If any resistance is met with, do not attempt to 
overcome it by force, but withdraw the catheter, and give to it a 
further downward inclination, after which it will generally pass. 
The horse, on the first introduction of the instrument, usually 
snorts for a few seconds, and that snorting will be increased if 
any unnecessary moisture is applied to the exterior of the tube, 
which answers best when employed in a clean and dry state. 
While the snorting continues the operator st^uld still push on- 
ward the catheter, and, when it is sufficiently inserted, hold it there 
till the animal is quiet, which I have found him to be before the 
whole length has been introduced : subsequently the horse remains 
perfectly still ; and those on which I have tried this plan — how- 
ever contrary the fact may be to expectation — appeared not to 
dislike the proceeding. 
The gentlemen to whom I have recommended this method have 
objected to it, that there was peril of getting the catheter into the 
larynx, and of injecting the fluid into the lungs : such a fear is en- 
tirely groundless. Supposing so strange an accident possible, long 
before the syringe could be used the operator would be ener- 
getically informed of his mistake. The most sensitive membrane 
in the body would not tamely submit to the intrusion of a foreign 
substance : the violent excitement it must call forth would cause 
the operator to withdraw, and probably expose him to serious 
injury. 
I am not aware that there is any chance of an accident occurring 
from such a cause : Nature too cautiously guards the glottal open- 
ing, and the direction of the instrument guides it into the pharynx. 
This application of an old instrument I have spoken of as being 
