CORRESPONDENCE. 
295 
and I took occasion in the meanwhile to look him over thoroughly. 
I observed that he was discharging freely from the right nostril, 
and upon opening his mouth I was struck with the peculiar foetid 
odor escaping therefrom. I also saw a bunch upon the right side 
of the head, about as large as a walnut. Never having met Mr. 
Turner before that day and not being asked for any opinion con¬ 
cerning the horse, I passed out of the stall and proceeded to that 
occupied by the stallion Nil Desperandum. 
About two weeks from that date I was again in Mr. Turner’s 
stable, and in Prospero’s head, from the open stall door I noticed 
that the bunch upon the side of the head had grown considerably 
in size, and that the peculiar odor which before had smelled when 
I opened his mouth, could now be smelled from the open door. 
On the 2d day of May, I made a third visit to Mr. T’s stables, 
for the purpose of performing a surgical operation upon a colt 
belonging to Mr. Ellis. After the operation was completed I 
was asked by Turner to examine Prospero and tell him what was 
the matter with him, remarking that he could not condition the 
horse, and was unable to do any work with him, or words to that 
effect. I went to Prospero’s stall and was surprised to find that 
the bunch had grown still more, that the discharge from the nos¬ 
tril was greater, also that a discharge was escaping from the 
mouth, which, when opened, emitted a very offensive odor very 
much like that given off by diseased bone. I said to Mr. Turner 
that I thought the horse had carious teeth, and perhaps necrosis of 
the jaw bone. Mr. Turner replied, saying that one tooth had 
alread} 7 been extracted by a Dr. Clark, a traveling horse dentist, 
recently in Philadelphia, which when removed had been perfectly 
sound. I then opened the animal’s mouth again, and passing my 
hand back distinctly felt the cavity whence the third molar tooth 
had been taken ; the alveola muscle was very much irritated and 
swollen. Within the cavity there was collected a quantity of 
half masticated food which I removed. Again I obtained the 
odor peculiar to diseased bone. I then examined the nostril very 
carefully and observed that the discharge from that was of a 
different character and did not have the very offensive smell of 
that which came from the mouth. And I said to Mr. Turner 
