503 
MR. YOUATT’s VETERINARY LECTURES. 
the result: the heels are grown strong, and possess more horn 
than they have ever done since she came into my possession. 
I believe you have promised to publish a work on this subject, 
together with the navicular-joint lameness, and its mode of treat¬ 
ment. I am happy to see the spirit for publishing on the in¬ 
crease among men of experience in veterinary subjects; it is what 
we much want. 
MR. YOUATT’S VETERINARY LECTURES, 
DELIVERED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 
LECTURE XX. 
Tracheotomy—the Thymus Gland—the Bronchial Tales. 
The respiratory canal is occasionally, and to an annoying and 
dangerous degree, obstructed. Polypi occupy the nostrils. I 
related a case of one in a former lecture, which completely filled 
one nostril, and thrust the septum narium so far out of its natural 
situation, as to cause serious impediment to the breathing. Bony 
tumours have been formed in the nostrils, and obstructed the 
current of air. Tumours have distended the guttural pouches, 
and pressed into the pharynx. The tongue has become enlarged, 
or the membrane of the pharynx has been thickened by inflam¬ 
mation, and closed the passage to the larynx ; or the tumour of 
strangles has pressed upon the part, and for a while obliterated 
the passage. Foreign bodies have lodged in the pharynx, or 
have even insinuated themselves into the trachea. The larynx 
has been distorted by tight reining; bands of coagulated lymph 
have been thrown across the tracheal tube ; the membrane of the 
windpipe or of the larynx has been thickened, or ulcers have 
formed in the larynx or the trachea, so sensitive and so painful, 
that the act of breathing was laborious and torturing. In any of 
these cases we have anxiously inquired whether we might not 
establish an artificial opening for the passage of the air, when 
the natural one could no longer be used; and w r e have found it 
to be a very simple and safe operation to cut into or excise a 
]>ortion of the trachea, either upon or below the point of obstruc¬ 
tion, as circumstances may indicate. 
Description of the Operation of Tracheotomy. —The operation 
being determined on, and the precise spot at which it is to be 
performed being selected, the horse is secured by the side-line, 
and kept standing ; for he would probably lie suffocated in the 
violent struggles with which he would resist the act of throwing. 
