288 
W. H GRIBBLE. 
writers in such a matter-of-fact way that students suppose 
them infallible; and, in the majority of cases the trouble is 
readily distinguished, but that it is possible to be mistaken 
the following case will show: 
History .—Bay mare, four years of age, greedy feeder ; had 
been fed oats and corn fodder for dinner, and nothing 
wrong noticed. She was hitched to light buggy to come to 
town four miles distant, and when but a short distance from 
home owner noticed a discharge of saliva from mouth and 
nostrils, which increased as he progressed. She was brought 
to our stable, and on examination she presented the most 
plainly marked case of choking (that is, judging from the symp¬ 
toms) we ever saw. I immediately drenched with oil, and 
was somewhat puzzled at there being no return of it, so we 
very carefully passed a half inch white rubber tube entirely 
down the oesophagus to the stomach, meeting with no ob¬ 
struction whatever. All the time the symptoms increased in 
severity, saliva flowing from her in such enormous quantities 
that it formed a stream on the stable floor. The respirations 
became intensely painful, and the accompanying squeal was, 
I assure you, not pleasant to hear. The nasal membranes be¬ 
came as blue as we have often noticed in horses shortly be¬ 
fore death. The owner, fully satisfied that the animal would 
die, had gone home, and symptoms of asphyxia being very 
apparent, in fact the animal fell twice as if gasping for breath. 
As she sprung to her feet I determined to perform tracheot¬ 
omy, which I did in its simplest form by an incision two and 
one-half to three inches in length, a suture in each side of 
wound and tied on top of neck ; immediately, as if by some 
magic power, as soon as opening was made, she took a long 
draught of air, began to breath easier, less saliva to flow, and 
in an hour and a half was comparatively easy. In twenty- 
eight hours we allowed the wound to come together, and in 
three days sent the animal home to be cared for by owner. 
Now, my professional brethren, what and where was the 
trouble ? Our theory is, that feeding on fodder she greedily 
bit at a stalk which pierced or in some way injured the 
pharynx or the soft palate ; swelling followed, causing the 
