than two inches in diameter, with a dry weight of one or two

ounces.

In the human stomach, concretions comparable with bezoars have occasionally been observed. In 1894, Dr. W. B. Outten recorded one of a conical shape which measured over five inches in length and about five inches in diameter in its broadest portion and weighed fourteen ounces, and was accompanied by another similar but somewhat smaller gastrolith weighing seven and eight-tenths ounces. These masses appeared to have formed about a quantity of vegetable connective tissue, intermingled with starch, etc., and subsequently increased by the same materials, yeast cells, etc.; and it is stated that the nucleus was formed through the patient having gorged himself with bread and persimmons, the fiber of which bound together the starchy matter.

The only structures of which I have found record which are closely comparable with the specimens sent by Dr. Eschauzier, are described by Mr. Coville,† who records the formation in the stomachs of horses of somewhat similar balls (in one case, as many as thirty of which were found in the stomach of a single animal), which are also occasionally found in the large intestine. These balls are described as uniform in all respects save size, being almost exactly spherical, of yellowish-brown color, with a smooth, even surface, and, on removal, saturated with the intestinal juices. On drying, they shrank but little and varied in diameter from three to four and one-half inches, and were of a dull brown color, having the appearance of a fine quality of felt. In texture they were so firm that the surface could not be indented with the thumb, yet the weight is said to have been unexpectedly light, as one about four inches in diameter weighed only four and three-fourths ounces. When cut open, these balls were found to be solid and to consist of a uniform felt-like material throughout, showing faint concentric layers of slightly different color; and a microscopical examination

A Case of Double Gastrolith Removed by Gastrotomy. Medical Fortnightly. St. Louis, August 15, 1894.

The

† Coville: Crimson Clover Hair Balls. Circular No. 8, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, Div. of Botany, June 15, 1896.

demonstrated that they were composed of minute, rather stiff hairs, seldom more that one-tenth of an inch in length, pointed at one end, and covered with fine barbules directed toward the pointed apex, which usually faced the surface of the ball. Further investigation showed that these hairs were derived from the calyx of the crimson clover, the assumption being that the horses had fed upon over-ripe plants of this species (Trifolium incarnatum), the hairs which accumulated in the stomach being aggregated into spherical felted balls in the manner assumed for the above-described Mexican specimens composed of Opuntia hairs.

In discussing the use of oat bran as a food for domestic animals, especially horses and donkeys, Dr. Harz* characterrizes it as a dangerous food material, because it favors the formation of large bezoars, which he had previously discussed in an extensive paper,† in which is given a classification of structures of this kind, with a very considerable citation of earlier literature.

It is a frequent practice in Texas to cut the branches of cacti which are fed to stock into half-inch lengths. In this way, every one of the obliquely set longer spines of Opuntia Engelmanni (and of some other species which are so used) is almost certain to be cut off, so that the danger from the spines is removed. This treatment, however, does not destroy the barbed hairs of the pulvini, of which the bezoars under consideration are composed. It is also the practice, in some places, to roast the fragments as a means of completely removing the spines and barbed hairs, but this is objected to by some feeders, because the roasting has been asserted to add to the laxative properties of the cactus.‡ Where some such treatment has not been resorted to, injury to the animals not infrequently results; and in the bulletin referred to, Dr. Vasey gives a number of instances in which cattle have

Landwirtschaftliche Samenkunde, ii. 1315.

↑ Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Pflanzenbezoare des Pferdes und Rindes. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Thiermedicin und vergleichende Pathologie, i. 893– 407. 1875.

Vasey, Grasses of the South. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Botanical Division, Bulletin No. 3, 52. 1887.

died from an accumulation of spines in the mouth and stomach, an effect somewhat comparable with that caused by the awns of Hordeum when cattle feed upon these.

Considering that in the West and Southwest of our own country, as well as in Mexico, Opuntias are not infrequently fed to cattle in considerable quantities, it is surprising that other cases similar to the one here recorded have not been reported, but to my knowledge they have not.

Issued November 30, 1897.