Such is a true and brief history of the terrible mishaps that result from the mingled knowingness and ignorance which characterize the majority of grooms. A good or simple lad would be sadly out of place in a modern stable, though the writer should recommend the employment of such to become more general. The tricks and arts of professed grooms are all worthless or injurious. To such men, however, is the timid horse intrusted; and so much are our minds enslaved by custom, that the hint only of employing women in the stable will, no doubt, be received with general indignation. Let us, however, endeavor to view the matter without prejudice. Women work in the fields; women fill the situations of men as domestic servants; women carry heavy loads; women, on the continent, perform the duties of men; women commonly tend an animal of inferior intelligence, the cow; women are subordinate to men only where strength is concerned. In the stable no strength is required. Courage, even, is out of place there. Gentleness is the only quality imperative, and gentleness so habitual that it never will alarm timidity. This attribute seems to reside in the feminine mind; and, however opposed it may be to habit, the author cannot but lament the barrier which prevents the horse from becoming known to its natural attendant. RUPTURE AND STRICTURE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS. The gullet or œsophagus of the horse is, perhaps, the most compact and delicate structure in a beautiful body. Its mucous lining membrane is thrown into minute folds, thereby announcing to the studious anatomist the degree of extension the tube was designed to endure. Its exterior is enveloped by a large mass of cellular tissue, by which means the independence of its motion is secured; it will permit of less violence than almost any other part. Small as its channel and delicate as its lining membrane are, the tube is amply large and strong enough for a creature which masticates long before it deglutates once, and which is by nature forbidden to regurgitate. However, stable-men seek not to understand but love to master the quadruped intrusted to their charge. The butt-end of a carter's whip is a favorite resort with these people, whether serving some farmer or acting as grooms to some lord. When any mighty specific happens to stick in its passage to the stomach, the butt-end of the whip is employed to drive the obstinate charm onward. Should the obstruction be situated low down, the whip is neither small enough nor pliable enough to touch the offending matter. Should the choking mass be lodged high up, by compelling it beyond the reach of human hand, positive injury is done, and ultimate relief is rendered very problematical indeed; however, ignorance is not often to be deterred by difficulties. As the passage narrows, greater violence is resorted to; the men push and strive till at last the whip moves onward, and the stable-men congratulate each other upon "all being right at last."