398 
A CASE OF (ESOPHAGOTOMY ON A COW. 
By Mr. Edward Dycer, V.B, Dublin. 
Various means are had recourse to for the extraction of foreign 
bodies obstructing the oesophagus, but, among them, that of inci¬ 
sion, as a last resource, has seldom been adopted : I therefore send 
for your valuable Periodical an account of the particulars of a case 
upon which I operated last week. 
A cow belonging to a farmer in Slateford, was choaked by a 
potatoe on the 16th instant, about two o’clock, P.M. An old pupil 
of Professor Dick’s was soon in attendance, who tried the probang 
and screw stilette, for the purpose of either forcing the obstruction 
on into the paunch or extracting it by the mouth, but without suc¬ 
cess. 
Professor Dick was sent for ; but he being engaged, requested 
me to attend. On my arrival, which was about six P.M., I found 
the cow in a state of suffocation, and blood flowing from the nose 
and mouth, from the attempts to extract the potatoe. On exami¬ 
nation, by introducing my hand into the mouth through a balling- 
iron, I could feel the source of obstruction, which was a potatoe 
situated at the commencement of the oesophagus. I endeavoured 
to extract it with my hand and a screw, but could not succeed, on 
account of the contraction of the muscular coat, which was great, 
from the spherical form of the obstructing body. I, therefore, cast 
her on her right side, and making an incision three inches in length 
between the sterno-maxillaris and the jugular vein, a little below 
its bifurcation, I separated the cellular membrane with my finger 
until I felt the carotid artery. I pushed aside this vessel, and the 
nerves that belonged to it; and then, cutting down upon the potatoe 
and introducing a corkscrew into it, I abstracted it. 
I now sewed up the external wound, and inserted a large canula 
into the paunch, for the pupose of supplying her with nutriment in 
the form of gruel. The paunch had been previously punctured, 
to allow of the escape of the gas that had been extricated. 
1 did not think it advisable to administer any thing by the 
mouth, except cold water, which I considered would act in a two¬ 
fold manner; namely, that of allaying thirst and abating the in¬ 
flammation in the wound. 
Since the operation she has evinced little febrile action. I saw 
her this morning, and the wound in the oesophagus seems closed, 
as the water she takes does not pass out through it. The external 
wound was healthy, and she is going on in a favourable manner. 
The only instances I can call to mind of the operation being sue- 
