280 DISEASES OF THE STOMACH. 



of any of the metallic salts in common use^ or the mineral 

 acids or caustic alkalies, or, in fact, any poisonous agent, 

 will vary with the dose and virulence of the poison but 

 otherwise will not be much altered — so far as these three 

 classes are concerned — by the kind of poison. The symp- 

 toms most remarkable from the presence of blue vitriol, 

 corrosive sublimate, or arsenic, in the stomach, are — nausea 

 and loathing of food, often accompanied by a discharge of 

 saliva from the mouth. The horse paws; turns his head 

 round, and throws a look of extreme distress at his flank ; 

 lies down ; rolls about the stall ; rises again in great agony 

 and distress ; heaves quickly and painfully at the flanks ; 

 and finally breaks out into a profuse perspiration. In cases of 

 other poisonous substances, or of such as, from their quantity 

 or indigestibility, act as irritants in the stomach, vomiting will 

 be present, with eructation, and often extreme distension of 

 the organ with gas, creating enormous tympany of the ab- 

 domen. The pulse at first is simply accelerated; after a 

 time, it becomes contracted to a thread ; at length, altoge- 

 ther imperceptible. Prostration of energy and strength now 

 prevails ; the animal reels about in attempting to walk. 

 His bowels become either violently purged, or else he is 

 troubled with painful tenesmus, and voids nothing but mucus. 

 At last, from continual torment, the poor sufi'erer turns de- 

 lirious, throwing himself about in such a terrific and heed- 

 less manner, in his stall or box, that no one durst approach 

 him, and in one of his truly horrific and perilous precipita- 

 tions, casting forth a delirious ghastly look, he suddenly 

 stretches out his limbs, groans, gapes, and dies. 



Without any allusion to poison, Mr. Tombs says, that 

 " the most characteristic symptom indicative of Gastritis, is 

 incessant eructation, the stench of the gas escaping being 

 intolerable.^^ 



The POST-MORTEM Appearances, in cases of death from 

 the mineral poisons before mentioned, are as follow : — The 

 villous membrane of the stomach exhibits a patchy intense 

 inflammation : red or purple or black spots — depending on 

 the intensity — being apparent upon its surface ; it is thick- 



