270 DISEASES or THE STOMACH. 



coats; several bowlsful of alimentary matters were taken 

 out of the abdomen, of whicli some liad reached the pelvis, 

 and even the scrotum. A third, a harness horse, who died 

 from stomach-staggers, presented the stomach torn in the 

 same part as in the former case ; added to which there was 

 a rupture in the tendinous centre and left cms of the 

 diaphragm. On opening an old mare, several pints of 

 bloody effusion were found, in which floated alimentary 

 matters, along with a detached shred of omentum. The 

 right sac of the stomach showed an elliptical rent, seven 

 inches in length, in a line with the great curvature. This 

 horse, after having eaten voraciously, exhibited the symptoms 

 of indigestion. 



DupuY has not confined himself, however, to the relation 

 of these cases. He has shown a desire to account, in 

 another way, for the accident occurring so frequently 

 among horses. For it he mentions two causes — the in- 

 creased friability of the tunics of the stomach under inflam- 

 mation, and the practice of giving water after a full meal. 

 The stomach not being made to hold more than twelve or 

 thirteen quarts of fluid, if some two or three gallons of 

 water be drunk after a full meal, the liquid imposes strain 

 upon the coats, and the consequence is rupture. M. Dupuy 

 has observed, in a horse that died of colic, the peritoneal 

 coat lacerated, as well as a portion of the muscular, while 

 the internal coat remained entire ; although, had the animal 

 survived, that likewise would have given way. For the 

 rupture always happening in the great curvature, M. Dupuy 

 accounts by referring to the change of position the stomach 

 undergoes in becoming distended, and to the circumstance 

 of the great curvature being the part least supported after 

 that change has taken place. 



Mr. Daws mentions a case in 'The Veterinarian/ 

 (vol. xiii, p. 540), in which the rupture of the stomach 'ap- 

 peared to be referable to gastritis. Mr. Turner, Y.S., Mon- 

 treal, sent also an account to 'The Veterinarian' (vol. 

 xxii, p. 272), in which the stomach and the intestines too, 

 exhibited signs of chronic disease, the latter having their 



