DISEASES AJSL) ACCIUENTS OF THE ALIMEXTAKY CANAL,. 



421 



XH. Rupture of the Stomach, Intestines or Diaphragm. 

 Causes. — This occurs iu violent cases of flatulence. When the gener- 

 ation of gas is excessive in the stomach or the intestines, they are liable 

 to rupture, and let the food out into the abdominal cavity, or from the 



UNNATURAL ATTITUDE INDICATIVE OK ABDOMINAL INJURY. 



tremendous pressure against the diaphragm, it is liable to rupture and let 

 the intestines into the chest among the lungs and heart. Either case is 

 fatal, the animal dying from shock to the nervous system, hemorrhage 

 and suffocation. 



How to know It. — The horse will sit on his haunches ; but this is not n 

 characteristic symptom of itself, for we see it occasionally in spasmodic 

 colic, and often in enteritis ; the horse will 

 turn up his nose with an intensely disgusted 

 expression on his countenance, but this, too, 

 is often seen in colic and enteritis ; he will try 

 to vomit, which is a characteristic symptom, 

 and the muscles and legs will tremble and shake 

 as if vnth cold ; the ears and legs get cold ; 

 cold sweat breaks out in patches ; the mouth 

 gets cold, the pulse grows smaller and smaller, till it becomes impercepti- 

 ble, and death claims the patient in the course of half an hour to two 



hours. 



XHI. Constipation. 



When the foecal matter in the intestines gets dry and hard, and resists 

 the peristaltic effort of the bowels to pass it on, or Avhen there is no per- 

 istaltic motion to the bowel, and the food lies quiet in one spot, there is 



NOSE STRAINED UPWARD. 



