} 



ACUTE GASTRITIS, 625 



seems to serve in retarding or lessening the activity of certain 

 of those irritants in a manner not yet perfectly accounted for. 



When pain is a prominent symptom the application exter- 

 nally of heat and moisture is advisable, and ought to be per- 

 severed in for some hours continuously ; and when the rugs 

 are removed, a turpentine stupe or mustard cataplasm may be 

 applied. Should the animal not succumb, and at length show 

 a desire for food, great care must be exercised in the giving of 

 it. Milk or good gruel, either oatmeal or linseed, are to be 

 preferred to any solid material for some days, and we ought to 

 be perfectly sure all the time that the " bowels are kept in a 

 moist state. 



I am aware that many are very sceptical as to the possibiHty 

 of recovery in cases of gastric inflammation ; I feel, however 

 satisfied that in the horse there are more recoveries from in- 

 flammation of the stomach than of the intestines. I have en- 

 countered several where there seemed little doubt, judging from 

 previous experience, and from comparison with cases as far as 

 I could discover in every way similar both in their astiology 

 and sjnuptoms — and where after-death examination demon- 

 strated gastric inflammation — that the animals under treat- 

 ment were similarly affected, and where, after much sufiering, 

 they ultimately recovered under treatment such as indicated. 



It may be interesting to notice that several of these cases 

 were similar to those narrated by Mr. Percivall in his ' Hippo- 

 pathology,' as having occurred in the practice of a Mr. Bean. 

 The immediate cause — eating haws — was in operation in both 

 groups of cases ; the symptoms were similar, eructations and 

 ejection of fluid and solid matter from mouth and nose; and 

 in those which died the lesions corresponded. 



II. Chronic Gastritis. 



This condition may possibly occur as a sequel of an acute 

 attack, but is in the horse chiefly found in association with — 

 (1) Continued errors in dieting, either with or without im- 

 paction ; a steady irritation resulting from indigestible or 

 improperly conditioned food. (2) Textural changes of the 

 gland-structures and component parts of the viscus, possibly 

 connected with other and more general diseased conditions. 

 It is in this manner frequently associated with the form of pul- 



40 



