CHOKING IN CATTLE. 
233 
that has happened to me; and I have been obliged to relieve the 
same bullock again before leaving the farm-house. 
T always order a slop-mash for a day or so, and remove solid food, 
thereby allowing the overstretched muscles of the throat to resume 
their former tone. 
Laceration of the lining membrane of the oesophagus and its 
muscles is the product of too great mechanical force being used, and 
from ragged tube ends. A laceration is soon discovered. When 
in the neck part, a swelling commences, and hourly increases, gene¬ 
rally above the accident in a much greater proportion than below. 
It is a hard, tense, inelastic swelling, from an infiltration of mucus 
into the surrounding tissue. The poor beast seems to be aware that 
something wrong has occurred; fever is soon set up; respiration 
becomes painful; the animal moans, refuses every thing; the breath 
becomes foetid; and death ensues from the third to the fifth day. 
If the animal is in good condition for the butcher, my advice is to 
let it be slaughtered. Do what you will in these lacerations, they 
generally die. 
I do not agree with Professor Gelle, that the swelling arising from 
a torn oesophagus is a soft fluctuating tumor: every case I have 
seen has been quite the reverse. Longitudinal splits in the throat, 
whereby the obstructing body gets into the surrounding substance, 
is, perhaps, what the Professor means ; yet it rarely happens in the 
cervical part, but chiefly in the floating portion, within the chest, 
that bodies escape out of the oesophagus. 
Rupture of the oesophagus w'lihin the chest is soon fatal. The beast 
swells, and is in great pain—the breath is tainted with the odour of 
the ingesta of the rumen, from the air or gas escaping into the 
cavity of the chest, and being absorbed by the lungs—the eyes are 
suffused—there is great anxiety—and the chest is enlarged in cir¬ 
cumference. Remedial means are of no use; and, on opening the 
body after death, you Avill find the contents of the rumen, and fluids 
also, in the cavity. 
Hoven. —This, as a consequence of choking, requires the use of 
prompt measures. It is generally the result of a round body be¬ 
coming fixed in the throat, or from swallowing a little hay when 
only a small substance may be lodged there. It often happens 
that the country veterinary surgeon has to ride a mile or two to re¬ 
lieve a case of this kind. On his arrival, the beast is ready to 
drop from flatus, producing pulmonary congestion, suflbcation, and 
mechanical apoplexy, from pressure on the lungs. Lose no time in 
puncturing the rumen; and you will then, in most cases, with ease 
introduce the tube. Sometimes, if the animal will stand, the tube 
can be put down without puncturing the rumen. It may also 
liappen, when an animal is sadly blown, that although the tube is 
introduced into the paunch, this viscus will not contract. In this 
