THORACIC CHOKE. 
289 
case as described; that the swelling was cedematous, and 
nature in time reducing it, the operation of tracheotomy 
finally saved her life. 
Case No. 2.— Brown horse, six years of age, had been fed 
oats and hay for dinner; had eaten' the oats, but would eat 
nothing more. Temperature normal, also pulse and respira¬ 
tion, and the only thing noticed wrong was simply he would 
eat nothing ; there was not a single symptom of choking. Not 
being able to find out anything, we thought of throat trouble 
and drenched with two pints of water, not any of which re¬ 
turned. We plainly told the owner we had no idea what 
was the trouble, still he left it in our care. 
The animal lived three days, and not until about ten hours 
before he died did he show one symptom of choking, and then 
simply a flow of saliva which never aroused our suspicion of 
the real trouble, and only at post mortem was the true fact 
made known. We found that the animal had been fed on cut 
hay (cut about two inches long) which had lodged at pit of 
stomach, each individual piece of hay seeming to be in a dif¬ 
ferent direction, the ends piercing the mucus membrane of 
the oesophagus. It was not packed one particle, but formed 
a perfect screen through which fluids could pass without dif¬ 
ficulty, until the irritation had caused inflammation and swell¬ 
ing of the parts. 
Gentlemen, I have given these two distinctly opposite 
cases, not to have you think them rare and exceptional ones, 
but to show you that the subject should be more carefully 
taught in our colleges, and that writers in speaking of chok¬ 
ing and treating the subject with such childish simplicity, 
lead many to form an opinion in early practice that they 
could never be led astray in diagnosing a case of simple chok¬ 
ing. As to this simplicity of diagnosis, the two cases recorded 
are worthy of your consideration, and as to the importance 
of the subject, allow me to state that in the last three years I 
have lost seventeen (17) patients with low choke, and they were 
treated in every conceivable manner. Two ol these 1 might 
have saved had a true history been given. Both were said to 
be choked on oats, whereas at post mortem the obstruction 
