ON MR. SIMONDS’S PROBANG. 
5:^9 
other simple suppurating wound, and a cure is soon effected. If 
abscesses form in different parts of the jugular, they are openod, 
and treated according to the indication of the case. If there is 
caries or gangrene, recourse must be had to the cautery, in order 
to destroy it, and the part must be covered with substances capable , 
of arresting the progress of putrid destruction, such as blister oint¬ 
ment, cinchona, or storax. If the inflammatory symptoms disap¬ 
pear, and nothing but an enlargement of the parts remains, the 
transcurrent cautery may be employed with advantage, or frictions 
with the unguentum populeum. 
Some have advised to dissect the indurated part, the kind of 
cord which the jugular now forms, and to extract it entire. This 
painful and difficult operation is rarely successful. The destruc¬ 
tion of parts is fearful, and the animal almost always perishes from 
the reaction which ensues*. 
ON MR. SIMONDS’S PROBANG. 
By Mr. J. C. QUICK, Saint Ives. 
In perusing the Abstract of the Proceedings of the Veterinary 
Medical Association, I find that on January 7th Mr. Simonds in¬ 
troduced an instrument for removing obstructions from the oesopha¬ 
gus of cattle to the notice of its members. The debate which fol¬ 
lowed, and Mr. Simonds’ description seem to me to imply a doubt 
relative to its practical utility. By Mr. Simonds’ account it would 
be requisite to turn the stilett in different directions wherever the 
obstruction might and would be most easily laid hold of. 
Mr. Cartwright was desirous of ascertaining whether Mr. 
Simonds really thought that on drawing the forceps back they 
would lay hold of the obstruction: he, Mr. Cartwright, had his 
doubts as to their doing so, for he imagined that the instrument 
would glide past it. 
With all due deference to Mr. Simonds and the worthy members 
then present, allow an humble individual, but a stanch friend to 
veterinary science, to speak his thoughts on the subject; for it is by 
a multiplicity of opinions that we at last come to that “desideratum 
devoutly to be wished,” the truth. I think that if Mr Simonds 
had adopted a three-clawed forceps instead of a two-clawed one, 
there would have been no doubt as to its usefulness. The three claws 
* I have seen, while a pupil, this operation attempted many times without 
snccess. I have been informed by several of my colleagues that they have 
also tried it, but without anv f()rtunat<* rc'sult, for the animals have all died 
within a ftwv days after the o])eration. — I). 
