A FEW PRACTICAL HINTS. 
291 
solid nature and in reach, of course we withdraw it, and if it 
be in the cervical portion we try to work it upward ; then if 
this fail or the obstruction is still lower, we at once and with¬ 
out hesitation pass a probang, using the instrument as care¬ 
fully as possible, and the smaller the better consistent with 
the service required of it. Should the history, etc., have led 
us to diagnose choking with softer material, as corn, oats or 
any ground feed, we then adopt our plan before referred to, 
viz.: Pass a half inch rubber hose well oiled down the oeso¬ 
phagus directly on the obstruction, and attach to this hose 
our common injection pump. We use lukewarm water, 
pumping slowly and steadily, until our patient fights, strug¬ 
gles, retches and coughs, which coughing, with the flushing 
will, if the case be a recent one, or the food not yet impacted, 
in a majority of cases carry off part of it. This we continue ; 
the more our patient coughs, etc., the more we flush, and in 
nearly all cases, if we once get the upper layers of the im¬ 
prisoned mass to floating off, it is only a matter of time and 
patience until all is removed. 
We do not have to withdraw our hose with the struggles 
of the animal, as its small size, together with dilatation of 
oesophagus with pressure of water, allows the passage upward 
of the water, so forming what we might term a circulation. 
Sometimes the cough will throw the hose out. This plan ‘is 
the one we now rely on, the one which has given us the most 
success, and which we submit to you for consideration. 
Thanking you for your kind attention, I close this paper, only 
asking a full and free discussion of its subject matter. 
> i 
A FEW PRACTICAL HINTS. 
By S. R. Howakd, V.S., Hillsboro, Ohio. 
A Paper read before the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association. 
I am not connected in any way with any biological labo¬ 
ratory ; I am not an experimenter in this germ business ; in 
fact I never saw many of these microbes we hear so much 
about, and worst of all, 1 don’t even own a microscope ; still, 
