548 LACERATION OF THE (ESOPHAGUS IN A MARE, 
in apparent pain ; and as for her respiration, that was remark¬ 
ably calm. I frequently examined the whole track of the 
oesophagus, to see if there was any enlargement, but could 
never detect any. 
Sometimes 1 imagined that a portion of sponge might 
be there, such as could not be detected by pressure. As 
the symptoms were not at all violent, I thought that if 
it was a portion of the ball lodging in the passage, the best 
plan would be, to allow her to have diluents to slop in, and 
leave her to nature for awhile. This I did for three days; 
but at the expiration of that time, finding no amendment, I 
decided to try to introduce the probang. I accordingly took 
with me an excellent one, which I use for sheep and small 
animals. At first I could not introduce it at all; but after a 
while I succeeded; though I found it did not pass down the 
throat above eight or ten inches; nor could I, with the force 
I felt inclined to use, push it any further. Shortly after, I 
introduced it again, and found I could pass it to any distance. 
Now that we know the cause, there is no doubt but that the 
probang would at times catch against the edge of the rupture, 
at others enter the false aperture, and at others the oeso¬ 
phagus. On trying her with water or gruel, she would take 
two, three, or four gulps, and one was inclined to believe that 
part of it passed, from the appearance of the oesophagus, 
into the stomach, and that the obstruction was in the thoracic 
portion. Most likely, a small portion did reach the stomach; 
but the greater part, no doubt, stopped within the rupture, 
pharynx, and upper part of the oesophagus, and which was 
immediately vomited back through the nostrils and mouth. 
On the sixth day I had her cast, and tried to introduce a 
probang, the bulb of which was 1 gths of an inch in diameter, 
which after death I noticed would have passed; but I found I 
could not pass it further than the upper part of the oesophagus; 
and as some blood issued from the nostrils I desisted, and the 
probability is that it pressed against the edge of the rupture, 
or the interior of the swollen obstructed oesophagus, thus caus¬ 
ing the blood to flow. On the groouv’s return home, he had 
the impudence to assert to his master, that I had done all the 
mischief, and had ruptured her throat by using the probang. 
I have repeatedly seen horses choked by feeding greedily, and 
the symptoms have been very violent; but in a short time 
they have become right again, by pouring oil and fluids down 
the throat, and by gentle manipulations: I have never had 
occasion but once, and that successfully, to pass the probang. 
See f Veterinarian/ vol. n, p. 584. As the oesophagus 
of the horse is considerably less than that of the cow, it is 
