30 
REPORTS OF CASES. 
He had been given his usual mess for breakfast, which he 1 
ate heartily, and afterwards drank freely of water. After 
caring for him in the usual manner, the groom left him, to re¬ 
turn at noon to feed him again, when he found him “ choking,” 
as he expressed it. Thinking that perhaps something had 
lodged in the gullet, he gave him a drench of oil, but this, 
instead of relieving the difficulty, appeared rather to increase 
the irritation. When the animal was brought to us, his tem¬ 
perature was normal, and respiration, though slightly hurried, 
was not difficult. The pulse was about forty and in good 
condition. There was a very frothy discharge from the nose 
and mouth, and at the base of the neck, on the left side, a 
7 , _ 
swelling could be seen and felt, about the size of a man’s fist., 
and some two or three inches long. How far this swelling 
extended inside the thorax we failed to discover. At very 
short intervals he was seized with spasms of the muscles of 
the cervical region and also of the face, which during their 
continuance gave him a very agonized aspect. The spasms 
were occasionally accompanied by a discharge from the nos¬ 
trils of a quantity of frothy mucus, which gave him the ap¬ 
pearance of vomiting ; and at every spasm, and often between 
them, he uttered a short, sharp and peculiar cry. That relief 
must be prompt, to be effectual, was very evident. 
The animal was therefore thrown, and after some difficulty 
a long rubber catheter was introduced into the pharynx and 
oesophagus as far as the entrance of the chest; but unfortu¬ 
nately it was too short to reach the point of dilatation and 
dislodge the obstructing body. A hard rubber or whalebone 
probang was then tried, but because of its inflexibility could 
not be inserted beyond the soft palate. 
The owner was then informed that cesophagatomy was 
the only remaining resort; but, in view of the rather unfa¬ 
vorable aspect of the case, he preferred the destruction of the 
animal. Mucilaginous drinks were offered, but even the slight¬ 
est effort at swallowing excited such an accession of spasms 
that we felt compelled to leave him entirely to the processes 
of nature. The next day he was, if anything, worse. The 
temperature had risen one degree; the pulse had become 
