G32 
ON POLYPI OF THE NOSTRILS, 
sionally detached from the serous membrane of the abdomen and 
thorax, and hang loose and floating there; and on account of the 
horizontal position of the bodies of quadrupeds, they sometimes, 
in sudden and violent motion, entangle themselves round small 
portions of the intestines, and produce strangulation and death. 
The true polypus is attached to mucous membranes, and is 
usually found in the nostrils, the pharynx, the uterus, or the va¬ 
gina. Tumours have been found hanging loose in the ventricles 
of the heart; and in the larger bloodvessels there have been ac¬ 
cumulations of the fibrine of the blood, which, in these ramifica¬ 
tions, the body and head, being in the aorta, or even in the heart 
itself, and the limbs in the smaller vessels which branch from the 
aorta, have presented the appearance of an animal singular and , 
frightful, almost beyond description. This is the polypus in the 
heart, and which, according to the opinion of the farrier, and even 
the veterinary surgeon, too, has destroyed so many animals. 
The polypus usually adheres to some portion of the superior 
turbinated bone, oi it has come from some of the sinuses con¬ 
nected with that cavity. It escaped, while small, through the 
valvular opening under the superior turbinated bone into the ca¬ 
vity of the nose, and there attained its full growth. The polypus 
of the quadruped is not the compressible elastic fungous one 
(polypus elasticus) which is described by w r riters on human sur¬ 
gery as occupying the nostrils of their patients. The bleeding po¬ 
lypus is not known; but the small portion of bloody fluid that 
often appears at the nostril, proceeds either from the vascular mu¬ 
cous membrane with which the tumour is surrounded, or from the 
membrane of the surrounding cavity abraded by long and violent 
pressure. 
Some polypi have a fibrous or almost cartilaginous structure, 
and others appear to be composed of various little tumours agglu¬ 
tinated together. They are formed originally under or within 
the membrane by which the nasal cavity is lined, but no better 
account can be given of the cause of their appearance than that 
of tumours in other parts of the body. They evidently, however, 
have a constitutional origin : they are frequently hereditary, and 
the animal in which they have once appeared is subject to a re¬ 
turn of them. 
By some means, probably the increasing weight of the tumour, 
and being in a dependent situation, it is gradually detached from 
its base, and forces with it the soft and easily distensible mem¬ 
brane of the nose. As the polypus continues to descend, this por¬ 
tion of membrane is farther elongated, and forms the pedicle or 
root of the tumour :—a root it is not, for it is no continuation of 
the substance of the tumour, but a mere duplicature of its invest- 
