264 DISEASES or the stomach. 



drench was prescribed to be given immediately : — Tinct. 

 opii et ol. terebinth, aa Jiij. decoct, aloes ^vj. M. In the 

 course of half an hour this was repeated : but shortly after 

 she vomited the greater part of it by the mouth and nostrils. 

 No relief having been obtained^ tt>xii of blood were taken 

 from her, and the following drink given : Tinct. opii jiv. 

 decoct, aloes Jxij, ol. carui jss. M. A stimulating embro- 

 cation was also rubbed upon the belly, and large and fre- 

 quent clysters injected. In another hour this drench was 

 repeated; and for the fourth time, during the succeeding 

 hour ; both of which, before death, she rejected as she had 

 done the second drink. Notwithstanding these active mea- 

 sures were promptly taken, she died about three hours after 

 her admission. Having opened her, we found the stomach 

 prodigiously distended with air : it was, at least, three times 

 its ordinary size. When punctured, it subsided to about 

 two thirds of its former bulk. It contained masticated oats 

 and hay, swimming in a greenish yellow fluid, which emitted 

 an offensive odour. 



The extraordinary degree of suffering manifested in these 

 cases ; their resistance to all ordinary remedies ; combined 

 with perceptible enlargement of the belly, and its evi- 

 dent tympanitic character, with resonance on percussion ; 

 with eructations and vomiting besides ; may serve to distin- 

 guish them from spasmodic colic or gripes. And, supposing 

 we have been enabled to do so, then comes the question, what 

 is to be done by way of 



Treatment? — Medicine does not seem to offer anything 

 in the shape of a remedy : the most potent antispasmodics, 

 and stimulants, and purges, I have given with no avail. In 

 cattle so affected, the late Mr. Youatt recommended chlo- 

 rinated lime, in doses from ^ij to 3iv : the compound resulting 

 from combination of which with the contents of the stomach 

 is hydro-chlorate of lime, which quickly undergoes solution. 

 Would the introduction of cesophagus-tube into the stomach 

 prove practicable, and turn out of any service ? Would the 

 practitioner be justified in plunging a trocar into the abdo- 

 men, the same as is done to cattle, though the cases, or at 



