216 CASE OF POLYPUS ARISING FROM A DECAYED TOOTH. 
violent purging. Small doses of calomel, guarded with opium, 
I have found ineffectual, and, in some cases, it seemed to increase 
the abdominal pains. The result of quinine has not been satis¬ 
factory. How far the mineral acids, the sulphate of copper or iron, 
or even the nitrate of silver, might be available, I am not able to 
say, not having tested them sufficiently. The latter (the salts) 
seem to be indicated where diarrhoea has supervened. The 
mineral acids are recommended by the French. The salts are 
used in Germany in similar cases. 
Causes. —Of the cause of this affection I can say but little. 
It is more common in wet than dry seasons. This may arise from 
the double effects of the debilitating action of a cold damp atmo¬ 
sphere, in the winter season, on the animal frame; as well as the 
bad provender got in during a wet summer. The disease prevails 
more amongst old horses, particularly if hard worked and badly 
fed. I would further remark, that, during the prevalence of influ¬ 
enza, the latter frequently assumed the type of typhus, after the 
inflammatory symptoms had subsided; and in this form, in the 
majority of cases, terminated fatally. 
A SINGULAR CASE OF A POLYPUS ARISING FROM 
A DECAYED TOOTH. 
By Samuel Baker, M.R.C.V.S ., Chelmsford. 
To the Editor of “ The Veterinarian .” 
Sir,— I WAS called in by a neighbouring farmer, a few weeks 
since, to examine a two-year-old cart-colt, which had to all appear¬ 
ance a polypus as large as a cricket-ball growing out of the right 
nostril, which prevented the circulation of air. In order to ascer¬ 
tain its nature I ordered the colt to be cast, and upon examination 
found that the cavity of the nostril was filled up with a hard fleshy 
substance, which distended also the other nostril. After making 
an incision through the ala and side of the nostril, I dissected out a 
portion of the tumour above a pound in weight; but as still no air 
passed through, and there seemed not the slightest chance of ever 
gaining a passage, I ordered the colt to be killed; and, in dissect¬ 
ing the head, found that the cause proceeded from a decayed tooth, 
at whose root was a bag of matter about the size of a walnut, which 
by no possible means could relieve itself. 
I remain, 
Yours obediently. 
