636 
ON POLYPI OF THE NOSTRILS. 
obstruction within is not removed when the external protrusion 
is cut away. The animal is not and cannot be in the least degree 
relieved; but the case will be aggravated, for it will probably be 
necessary to apply the cautery to arrest the haemorrhage, and 
that will cause inflammation and enlargement, and the cavity will 
be more distended—possibly the septum will be partly forced into 
the other nostril, forming another obstruction there, and the very 
bones of the face will be disunited from each other. The exposed 
surface of the tumour thus mangled, and the ulcers made by the 
hot iron will generally take on a malignant character, and fun¬ 
gus, gangrene, or cancer will succeed. : 
An attempt to destroy the polypus by caustics will prove even 
more absurd and injurious. 
I will conclude by relating one or two cases of polypus. The 
first is taken from “ The Veterinary Instructions,” by Chabert, a 
book not so well known, nor so highly valued, as it deserves. 
A horse in one of the cavalry regiments had been observed 
gradually to lose flesh, and he was quickly and painfully blown 
at every little extra-exertion of speed. After a while, foetid matter 
began to be discharged from the off nostril, and the gland on the 
same side became enlarged, and the horse was supposed to be 
glandered by the serjeant farrier (for there were no cavalry veteri¬ 
nary surgeons then in the French service), and was treated accord¬ 
ingly. At length, to the confusion and astonishment of the man, 
a fleshy substance began to appear in the nostril, and which rapid¬ 
ly increased in size. The tumour continued to grow, until a great 
mass of it protruded, when the farrier, without appearing to be 
aware of the nature of the disease, or attempting to bring down 
the protruded part, cut it off. No benefit followed ; the nostril 
was still stopped, the breathing laborious, and the horse daily 
becoming thinner and weaker. 
A twelvemonth had now passed since the first appearance of 
the polypus, when the case attracted the attention of M. Xcart, 
the surgeon of the regiment. More had protruded than at first 
It was hard and glistening below, and fungous above; the bones 
of the nose were disjointed, and the face sadly deformed. 
He cast the horse, and slit up the nostril, when he not only 
found it completely filled by the polypus, and the septum na- 
rium bulging into the other division of the cavity, but, from long 
continued pressure and inflammation, it adhered to the membrane 
of the nose in so many points, and so extensively, that it was 
impossible to get round it, or move it. He contrived, at length, 
to fasten a crucial bandage around it, and it was torn out by 
main force. Four considerable portions of the turbinated bones 
were brought away with it. 
