A brutal practice existed among ancient farriers, of making an artificial opening into the rectum to allow the exit of the flatus upon which they conceived the disease to depend. This was effected either by cutting through the sphinctor ani with a knife or by making a new opening to one side of it with a red hot iron. According to Ferguson this has been improved upon by the modern Irish jockey, in the case of broken winded mares. With the knife an artificial communication is made between the rectum and the vagina, of sufficient size to insure that it will remain open and large enough to allow pellets of dung to pass into the vagina. The double lifting of the flank forces the fæces through this artificial opening, and to avoid the inconvenience of their presence in the vagina the animal carefully refrains from this action. This orifice further allows the free escape of any gases generated in the rectum and thus materially relieves the flatulence. Ferguson says he has seen broken winded mares that have been operated on in this manner, that breathed so freely that even professional men have failed to detect the affection. In all cases of broken wind, no matter how masked there will be manifest, on slight exertion, a permanent dilatation of the nostrils—_i.e._, alike in inspiration and expiration,—and when any such suspicious symptom is seen the horse should be carefully examined, especially the state of his lungs as ascertained by auscultation and percussion, his breathing after he has freely partaken of water and hay, and, if there is suspicion of drugging, after he has stood over night in a hot stable plentifully supplied with both hay and water. It should be borne in mind that mares advanced in pregnancy often show no double action of the flank though decidedly broken winded. POLYPUS OF THE BRONCHIAL TUBES. Like other mucous membranes, that covering the bronchial tubes, is liable to diseased growths, which may each remain attached by a broad base, and form a morbid elevation of the surface, or it may become loosened and retain its connection with the mucous membrane only by a neck or pedicle. An interesting case of the latter variety is recorded in the _Edinburgh Veterinary Review_ for January, 1864, by Mr. Parker of Birmingham. It was attached to the wall of the right bronchus about an inch below the bifurcation of the trachea, and had an ovoid form measuring 8½ inches in its longest circumference by 4½ in its shorter. The pedicle was 1½ inch long and allowed the tumor to pass freely upward into the lower part of the windpipe, threatening instant suffocation. It had a fibrous structure and was continuous with the interlacing bundles of yellow elastic tissues which cover the cartilaginous rings of the bronchus.