548 
GEO. S. WITTER. 
herds, I will endeavor to explain every symptom, and the treat¬ 
ment of each case, hoping that it may prove of value to some of 
your readers, and that some of them can enlighten me on the 
proper way to effect a cure or show a cause for the disease. 
In the fall of 1886 I was engaged in moving our horses from 
our summer range onto our winter range when I noticed that one 
of our stallions was sick. Whenever ha would attempt to run he 
would take a spasm that would almost close the larynx ; he would 
stop, stretch out his head on a line with his back, stagger around 
and sometimes fall to the ground in his struggle for breath; in 
performing the act of respiration he would make a noise almost 
like the hawl of a bull. I decided the case to be that of “ spasms 
of the muscles of the epiglottis,” and so left him and drove his 
mares down on the winter range. I went back after him the 
next day and found him up and looking well. He was a grade 
Percheron, had never been halter-broken and was very wild, so I 
had to drive him to the ranch, which was about ten miles distant. 
About the first three miles was all down hill and he traveled that 
distance with as much ease as any horse could, but just so soon 
as we started up hill he commenced to show signs of a spasm, and 
before we reached the top he took a spasm. He stood on his feet 
struggling for breath for about five minutes, and then fell to the 
ground and stretched out his legs, which quivered like those of a 
horse that is being choked with a rope and is too much exhausted 
to struggle any more. 1 saw at a glance that if he was not re¬ 
lieved in some way he would die in a very few seconds, as respir¬ 
ation had entirely ceased, so I took my pocket-knife and performed 
the surgical operation called trachetomy. This is done by making 
an opening into the trachea at about eight inches below the angle 
of the jaw and inserting a tube in the same. Just as soon as my 
knife entered the trachea he showed signs of life, and in two min¬ 
utes was on his feet. I did not get the tube fastened in because 
he became frightened at seeing me standing by him trying to se¬ 
cure the tube, and ran away. It was now dark, so I went home, 
leaving him, as I supposed, to die. I went back after him early 
next morning and found him about one-half mile from where I 
left him, or he left me rather. He looked perfectly well, except 
