REPORTS OF CASES. 
205 
saliva ; would apparently recover in about three hours, but 
thereafter would neither eat nor drink for several days ; ’then 
would apparently regain her natural condition. 
The post quartermaster suggested that we condemn and dis¬ 
pose of this animal, but I urged that we keep her until a post¬ 
mortem would convince us of the cause of the trouble. This 
mule was a fine looking animal and was frequently taken in ex¬ 
change for a weary pack-mule, then would suffer these attacks 
while out on a scouting expedition, and would again be turned 
in and soon taken out the same way, which was a source of 
amusement to those who knew her failings ; finally she was 
used as a draft-mule about the post and was idle for some time, 
but this made no apparent difference in the frequency of these 
attacks, which ultimately proved fatal. 
A post-mortem revealed a normal condition of the oesophagus, 
although I expected to find a thoracic jabot. We found old and 
discolored cicatrices in the mucus coats and muscular walls of 
the stomach with a small pouch or saq readily admitting the 
middle finger, and the opening was from before backwards, and 
all these lesions were confined to the great curvature of the 
stomach. It is my opinion that these lesions were due to eating 
parts of wooden wagon beds when deprived of hay and coarse 
forage while on forced scouting expeditions or long marches. 
I have seen aged mules suffering with chronic indigestion and 
gastric derangement due to particles of hard wood penetrating 
partly through and lodging in the walls of the stomach, resulting 
in small abscesses. These cases puzzled me until post-mortems 
revealed the cause of the trouble. 
A Tenth Cavalry horse was abandoned on the trail while 
scouting after hostile Indians, and was afterwards gathered up 
with other abandoned stock and was brought into the military 
post where I was on duty. He was turned with other supernu¬ 
merary horses in the extra mule corral and was grazed with the 
herd every day. He suffered an attack of some obscure ailment 
that simulated acute indigestion with choking. Drenches were 
administered as indicated but were promptly ejected by vomi- 
tion. I cast the patient with English hobbles, applied Varnell’s 
mouth speculum and was about to introduce a celluloid probang, 
when the violent struggles of the animal broke the mouth spec¬ 
ulum, and we were forced to release it. Medication was useless 
except hypodermic injections to relieve suffering. The patient 
was placed in a box stall, but was unable to eat or drink there¬ 
after, and emitted a very foetid odor and much saliva and mucous 
