FoQC(, 297 



and, thuSj to produce sudden death ; for, Mr, White ha^ rpentioned 

 an instance that came under his own cognizance, where a Horse, that 

 was a voracious feeder, got. loose in the night, an^ making his way 

 to the corn binn, he ate until the stomach burst. Now, this event 

 must not be attributed so much to the mechanical distention of the 

 stomach, that took place from the mere bulk of the oats which the ani- 

 mal swallowed, as to the quantity of gas t\\9.t w^^ extricated in 

 consequence of the fermentation which took place in them. For, 

 as soon as the mechanical distention which arose, in the first instance, 

 from the mere quantity of oats that the animal swallowed, had 

 passed the point that was compatible with the specific healthy actions 

 of the stomach, then the gastric juice ceased to be capable of exerting 

 its natural property of converting the food into chyme, and at the 

 same instant fermentation would commence and proceed with such 

 rapidity, that the carbonic acid gas, disengaged from the fermenta- 

 tive materials, not finding a ready exit, would be capable of bursting 

 the stomach. I have gone pretty much at length, into the subject of 

 fermentation, which occasionally takes place in the stomach of living 

 animals, in order to prove that it is a diseased, and never a healthy 

 process, and some of my readers, especially those who have made 

 chemistry their study, will, I fear, be of opinion, that I have been un- 

 necessarily prolix upon it; but it seems to me. to be a point of such great 

 practical moment, that I consider myself justifiable in having enlarg- 

 ed upon it. I have laid the greater stress upon it, also, on account 

 of its being intimately connected with the drenching system which 

 is too much recommended in books, and too frequently had recourse 

 to, even by people of education and good sense ; for, as to Farriers 

 and Grooms, it is their very citadel, to which they are ever ready to 



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