INJURY TO THE HEAD OE A HORSE. 
449 
therein which very clearly prove that the man who wrote 
them does not in the least understand the subject upon which 
he is writing. It is clear that the writer supposes that what 
is right and practicable to do in one case, is equally so in 
another, whereas it may, and often is , purely impossible, al¬ 
though the presentation may be the same in both cases. 
And when a man talks about legal actions for damages, 
because a professional man advises a hopeless case to be de¬ 
stroyed, and tells us that a mare which had been in labour 
about tivelve hours , during the last six of which she had been 
constantly subject to explorations of the uterus and endea¬ 
vours to extract the foetus, had a regular pulse and manifested 
no symptoms of exhaustion, he must suppose that the mem¬ 
bers of the Veterinary Profession are more gullible than the 
farmers and gentlemen to whom he sent his pamphlet. 
I purpose in my next paper to revert to the subject, and 
endeavour to answer at length the questions put by Mr. 
Galley in your June number. 
EXTENSIVE INJURY TO THE HEAD OF A HORSE. 
TRACHEOTOMY SUCCESSFULLY PERFORMED. 
By W. A. Cox, Jun., M.R.C.V.S., Ashbourne. 
On 24th May last I was requested to attend a horse 
belonging to Mr. Gould, of Hawk slow, near this town. The 
symptoms present, as described by the messenger, were, con¬ 
siderable swelling of the head, it being three times as large as 
it ought to be, difficulty in breathing, and profuse perspira¬ 
tion. The man said the horse had either been halter cast, 
or he had got his hind leg fast in the halter, and thus 
bruised his head, which happened on the 22d. 
On visiting the animal I found him to be in the state already 
described : the nasal openings were nearly closed by the 
swelling, the head was pendulous and resting on the ground, 
he reeled in his gait, and the power of deglutition was gone. 
As it seemed more than probable the animal would die from 
suffocation, if not at once relieved, I persuaded the owner to 
have tracheotomy performed. An incision having been 
made in the skin, I cut through the trachea in the form of a 
star, and introduced the common tracheotomy tube. The 
relief afforded was immediately apparent. The animal could 
now move without staggering, and the respiration became 
