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FOUR CASES OF BRONCHOTOMY. 
By Mr. Joseph Toombs, V.S., Great Barrington. 
On the 28th of September, 1829, I w as called in to attend a 
cart-colt, rising three years old, the property of a neighbouring 
farmer. I found the animal with an enlargement of the thyroid 
gland on the near side, and slightly laborious breathing; the 
pulse accelerated, and a difficulty of swallowing. I blistered the 
gland, ordered green food, and gruel instead of water, and nitre 
in the form of a linctus. 
2 9 th. —Pulse 50. Great difficulty of breathing, which became 
tranquil after the abstraction of four quarts of blood. Gland on 
the opposite side enlarged, which was also blistered. The linctus 
continued. 
30^.—The animal labouring under excessive difficulty of breath¬ 
ing, with a tremendous roaring noise, and considerable enlarge¬ 
ment of the larynx. Seeing that there was no chance of saving 
the horse from suffocation for another hour, except by an ope¬ 
ration, I performed it in the following manner:—An incision was 
made about four inches in length, through the integument, and 
sterno-thyroideus muscle: a portion of one of the rings of the 
trachea was excised large enough to admit one’s finger : a thread 
was passed through the muscle and integument on each side, and 
fastened to the mane, to prevent the aperture from closing. The 
larynx was extensively blistered, and fomentations were applied. 
The colt feeds a little. 
Oct . 1st, 2d, and 3d. —Colt lively; feeds better; linctus and 
fomentations continued : wound kept clean by means of a sponge. 
4th. —This morning three or four pints of thick matter have 
been discharged from the nostrils. Larynx subsiding ; treatment 
as before. 
5th. —From this time until the 15th, the animal kept gra¬ 
dually mending, when it was ascertained, by pressing the lips of 
the wound'together (which w 7 as had recourse to daily), that he 
could breathe freely through the natural passage. The wound 
was cleansed, and the skin brought into apposition by means of 
sutures; the w T ound readily healed, and the animal soon regained 
his wonted vigour, and has done well ever since. 
CASE II. 
On the 13th December, 1829, an entire cart-colt, rising three 
years old, was observed, when taken from w 7 ork, to be very dull, 
and when offered food, it could not swallow; a quart of ale was 
