700 
(ESOPHAGITIS IN THE HORSE. 
I introduced a flexible willow stick into the gullet, and presently 
succeeded in forcing the half-macerated substance into the stomach. 
What was the result? In five minutes afterwards the animal 
began to eat and to drink with an appetite and a nonchalance which 
would not permit me to believe that the raucous membrane of that 
tube had sustained any serious injury. The farrier assured me that 
he had again and again crushed the roots which had been thus 
arrested in their progress down the gullet, and that, five minutes 
afterwards, the patients had eaten and drunk without the slightest 
apparent inconvenience. 
The case which I am about to report is of a nature calculated 
to fix the attention of the veterinary surgeon, for it is new in our 
science; it is the only one in our records. On this account, I 
shall enter far more minutely into the details of the case than I 
otherwise should have done. 
The patient was an entire horse, five years old, of middle size, 
and a strong constitution. He was brought to our hospital on ac- 
count of supposed colic; the colicky pains had continued about 
twenty hours. They were not continuous, but the animal was 
alternately tranquil, or in a state of extreme suffering. As soon as 
they remitted, the patient began to eat his accustomed food. He 
had now been in this state nearly twenty-four hours, and had been 
bled twice. Emollient drinks and mucilaginous injections had 
been administered ; friction had been applied to every part of him ; 
he had been warmly clothed, and he had been walked out. The 
whole had only produced a very slight remission of the pain. 
Surprised at the obstinacy with which all our efforts were frus- 
trated, I requested that the horse might be sent to our hospital. 
It was -on the evening of the 2 1st of April that he arrived. A 
slight redness of the mucous membrane was apparent, and that 
colour was, also, on the conjunctiva, mingled with a yellow tint; the 
mouth was rather hotter than in a state of health ; the tongue was 
foul ; a slight augmentation in their frequency was the only change 
that was apparent in the beating of the pulse, or the respiratory 
movements. From time to time the animal lay down, and rolled 
himself rather gently, sustaining himself as long as he could on his 
back ; then he rose, and remained for a little while standing, paw- 
ing the ground with his feet. He would then lie down again, and 
roll as before. At one time he was tranquil during nearly twenty 
minutes, and then new colicky pains attacked him, and there was 
the same painful routine of lying down, rolling, getting up, and 
pawing with his feet. This continued until the following morning. 
During the remission of his pain he had frequent erections of the 
penis : the urine, thick and yellow, was twice evacuated in a small 
quantity, but the bowels had not acted. 
