=Treatment.= Medical treatment appears useless except in cases of polypi due to the presence of actinomyces. The administration of iodine and iodide of potassium, in large doses, may then lead to resorption; but extirpation is often preferable. In other cases extirpation is the only rational treatment. The operation necessitates the performance of provisional tracheotomy in order to avoid risk of asphyxia. The growth may be directly removed through the buccal cavity without incision, provided that it prove possible to pass the chain of an écraseur around the pedicle; or through the buccal cavity, with incision, after vertically or obliquely dividing the soft palate; or, lastly, through the larynx, after performing median laryngotomy, thus obtaining access to the pharynx. Only the first method of intervention is to be recommended; the last two are more delicate. They necessitate after-treatment, and when the patients are in a condition for slaughter it is frequently preferable to send them to the butcher. The essential point is not to act without a full knowledge of the causes. CHAPTER III. DISEASES OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS. [Illustration: $1] The œsophageal tube is of very simple anatomical construction, and performs an equally simple physiological function; nevertheless, in the ox it is liable to a large number of diseased conditions. These conditions may affect only a circumscribed area of the mucous membrane or the entire extent of the tube. Again, both the muscular and mucous tissues may be affected, as in inflammation of the œsophagus accompanied or followed by contraction, and in the formation of œsophageal abscesses and tumours; or the muscular tissue alone may be affected, as in cases of dilatation. Even where no lesion is apparent the normal rhythm of deglutition may be interfered with, either by the presence of a foreign body (obstruction) or by spasm of the muscular layers (œsophagismus) or by compression due to tissues surrounding the œsophagus (false contractions). We shall successively study the different forms of œsophagitis, contraction, and dilatation, together with their complications; then obstructions, ruptures of the œsophagus, œsophagismus, and false contractions. ŒSOPHAGITIS.