74 SCOTTISH METROPOLITAN VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
and discharging large quantities of saliva from the mouth. These gentle¬ 
men diagnosed dilatation and impaction of the oesophagus, and prognos¬ 
ticated a speedy fatal termination of the case. The prognosis was 
shortly verified. The oesophagus, trachea, larynx, and a small portion of 
lung, were sent to Professor Walley for inspection. The gullet was im¬ 
mensely dilated throughout. At the most dilated part its circumference 
was fourteen inches-. The muscular layer was hypertrophied to the extent 
of half an inch, but otherwise it was healthy. No stricture or organie 
disease existed either in the gullet or cardiac orifice of the stomach. 
The left laryngeal muscles were atrophied ; the laryngeal and tracheal 
mucous membranes inflamed. Both larynx and trachea were filled with 
a frothy fluid, mixed with ingesta. The small portion of attached lung 
showed considerable carnification. The difficult question to solve in the 
case was the cause of the dilatation, as no mechanical obstruction to the 
passage of ingesta existed. Death had evidently been caused by asphyxia, 
as the result of the passage of ingesta into the bronchial tubes, probably 
in the act of vomition. 
Professor Walley also exhibited the bones of the hock and fetlock of a 
cow, showing the results of diffuse metatarsal periostitis. 
Subject .—A small Ayrshire cow ; aged. 
History .—His attention had been directed to the animal during his 
course of inspection of dairies, about six weeks prior to death, when she 
was in slings, and under the care of Mr. Butherford. He had then ob¬ 
served that the leg was enormously swollen, and that two or three fistu¬ 
lous openings existed in the fetlock and hock-joints respectively. A 
discharge similar to that usually found in sinuses issued from the open¬ 
ings, and there was evidence, in the shape of cicatrices, of others having 
existed. 
The animal was in low condition, but was eating, and giving a tolerable 
quantity of milk. There was no sign of organic disease of internal 
organs, nevertheless he had a strong suspicion that the disease might 
have had a tuberculous origin. 
After the death of the animal Mr. Rutherford afforded him the oppor¬ 
tunity of examining the leg. 
The skin and subcutaneous tissues were thickened to the extent of 
from one to two or three inches. The external fistulous opening of the 
hock corresponded to cloacae in the joints, from the orifices of which, 
masses of degenerated ligamentous structure protruded. The whole 
of the soft structure of the fetlock-joint had undergone molecular 
degeneration, and large portions had been cast off through the fistulous 
opening, the extremities of the bones entering into its composition being 
eroded from absorption, entirely deprived of periosteum, and absolutely 
dead. The ligaments of the corono-suffraginal and corono-pedal articu¬ 
lations, with the tendons clothing them, were undergoing gelatinous 
degeneration. After removal of the soft structures by boiling, extensive 
destruction by caries of the articular surfaces of all the tarsal bones 
was seen to have taken place, large quantities of new ossific matter 
having been thrown out round the joint and all round the upper three 
fourths of the metatarsal bone, the latter being completely encased. No 
trace of tubercle existed in any of the diseased tissues, and he was of 
opinion that the affection was local in its origin. 
A short discussion afterwards ensued on the subject of the paper read 
by Professor Walley at the previous meeting. 
John McFadyean, Secretary. 
