192 
FOREIGN BODIES IN THE TRACHEA. 
(4.) FOREIGN BODIES, TUMOURS, AND PARASITES 
IN THE TRACHEA. 
Foreign bodies seldom enter the trachea during life. Owing to the 
excessive sensibility of the mucous membrane of the larynx, they imme¬ 
diately produce coughing, and are ejected. Masses of food have never¬ 
theless been repeatedly found in the trachea both in oxen and horses. 
Tumours of the pharynx, which are common in cattle, sometimes inter¬ 
fere with sw T allow T ing, and favour the entrance of food into the trachea. 
In horses fluid medicines unskilfully administered occasionally pass into 
the trachea and bronchi. Fatty oils are particularly dangerous in this 
respect. Linseed oil, formerly much used as a laxative, has been 
thought to produce a specific pneumonia, but its effects merely depend 
on its entering the trachea. Dust enters with the inspired air, and may 
produce mechanical pneumonia, especially in horses, the subjects of 
severe disease, which lie continuously. Abscesses in the walls of the 
pharynx or trachea, perforating the mucous membrane, may pour their 
contents into the air passages, and produce fatal pneumonia. Rost saw 
a cow die thus from suffocation. In animals suffering from tetanus, 
saliva and medicine not infrequently find their way into the respiratory 
passages, and produce the same effect. Blood derived from wounds or 
operations in the mouth, trachea, or neck may enter the air passages 
and clot there, producing suffocation. Badly-made tracheal tubes some¬ 
times break, and a portion falls into the trachea. This is common with 
Barthelemy’s canulse, where the tube is not always firmly fitted to the 
shield. Henderson reports such a case. During tracheotomy, if care 
is not taken, the piece of divided cartilage may easily fall into the 
trachea. Other foreign bodies rarely enter the trachea, though a case is 
reported where a horse died, in consequence of a stem of Robinia 
pseudacacia 12 inches long passing into the right bronchus, penetrating 
the pleura and producing pleuro-pneumonia with hydro-thorax. 
Tracheal tumours are rare, though they have been seen—principally 
in oxen. They are usually pedunculated, probably in consequence of 
being continually moved by the air stream. Guilt, Gerlach, Hink, and 
others found tracheal polypi in oxen, Rieck and Hink sarcomata. 
Siedamgrotzky describes a colloid cyst in a horse’s trachea. It was 
found embedded in loose connective tissue just below the cricoid cartilage. 
Benjamin discovered in the anterior wall of the trachea a tumour, which 
had formed after an attack of sore throat, and produced difficulty in 
breathing. Besides the varieties of strongylus, usually occurring in 
quantities in the bronchi of ruminants and swine, acari have been seen 
in the trachea. Paulicki found them in a long-tailed monkey. 
The symptoms are very varied. Dust or fluids obtaining entrance into 
