386 CLINICAL VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



to bite its master when touched. Appetite was lost, and dehcacies of 

 which it was usually very fond were refused. The faeces were hard, 

 streaked with blood, and only passed after prolonged, very painful 

 efforts ; the peritoneum was oedematous ; from the anus escaped a 

 foetid muco-purulent liquid ; the anal mucous membrane was swollen. 

 The introduction of the index finger into the rectum caused intense 

 pain. Three fourths of an inch in front of the sphincter, in the upper 

 wall of the rectum, a hard, extremely sensitive swelling could be de- 

 tected, towards the centre of which was implanted a sharp object— a 

 needle or pin — projecting an eighth of an inch beyond the mucous 

 membrane and pointing obliquely downwards and forwards. 



The foreign body was seized and removed by introducing the right 

 index finger and thumb into the rectum. It proved to be a sharp 

 needle two inches in length, the eye of which contained a fragment of 

 thread. 



Subsequent treatment consisted in washing out the rectum with a 

 5 per cent, solution of creolin. Recovery was complete at the end of a 

 few days. 



RUPTURE OF THE POSTERIOR AORTA. 



97. A twelve-year-old bay mare, brought to the College on the 

 afternoon of the 2nd February, 1894. 



The off fore fetlock had just been severely injured by a tramway 

 car. The external surface of the joint showed a contused wound, from 

 which a little bright red blood flowed, owing to injury of the digital 

 artery. 



The animal was placed in the trevis. Despite considerable 

 struggling the wound was dressed, the lips brought together, and an 

 antiseptic compress dressing applied. We were just about to liberate 

 the animal when it suddenly collapsed, and showed signs of dying : 

 excessive pallor of the mucous membranes, convulsive movements, 

 and rotation of the eyes. Death occurred, in a few moments. 



Autopsy. — On opening the peritoneal cavity a stream of blood 

 escaped. A layer of semi-coagulated blood covered the intestinal 

 contents. After removing the viscera we discovered in the sublumbar 

 region an enormous sanguineous swelling formed by a subperitoneal 

 haemorrhage, which had dissected and thrust back the parietal la3'er of 

 the peritoneum. This swelling extended from the origin of the coeliac 

 axis as far as the recto-vaginal cul-de-sac. Slightly behind its centre, 

 in the median line, we discovered a narrow perforation in the peri- 

 toneum, through which the blood, which had first accumulated beneath 

 the serous membrane, had passed into the abdominal cavity. 



Examination of the tissues in the lumbar region revealed the lesion 

 responsible for the haemorrhage. Though examined throughout its 

 entire length the vena cava showed no solution of continuity. The 

 walls of the posterior aorta were abnormally thin, but the perforation 

 was not at first seen. After carefully removing the vessel, we at length 

 discovered a narrow tear situated on the superior surface opposite an 

 exostosis on the third lumbar vertebra. Opened along its lower sur- 



