GASTRITIS. 383 



On this subject Professor Morton remarks, in his Intro- 

 ductory Lecture for 1839-40 : "It is true, the poisoning of 

 animals is not of so frequent occurrence,, nor its consequences 

 so awful, as that of our fellow- creatures; nevertheless, from 

 time to time it does occur, and we ought to be enabled at once 

 to exhibit an antidote, since delay is too often fatal. In the 

 horse, vomition cannot be excited; therefore you ought to be 

 familiar with an agent that will at once arrest the effects of 

 the poison; or, by decomposing it, will render it innocuous, and 

 prevent those torturing pangs which always accompany death 

 by poisoning. For instance, the fatal effects of corrosive 

 sublimate may be counteracted by the exhibition of albumen 

 or whites of eggs. The preparations of lead and copper by 

 sugar ; tartar emetic, by astringent vegetables ; the antidote 

 for arsenic is the true oxide of iron, which decomposes 

 it, forming an insoluble arsenite of iron ; or the solution of 

 lime may be tried, accompanied Avith the free use of diluents 

 and oleaginous purgatives, in order to expel the (poisonous) 

 agent /^ In regard to arsenic, I may mention here an 

 extraordinary instance, where two doses of the mineral 

 were given, one of 5J, the other of Jiss, with jss of sub- 

 limate added, without destroying the horse, to w^hich 

 end they were administered. — ^Veterinarian,^ vol. xxii, 

 p. 29. 



Mechanical irritation may produce gastritis, though 

 there is not half the apprehension of its doing so that people 

 in common are apt to imagine. For, whatever food the horse 

 consumes of an asperous or prickly nature, is not only first 

 Avell broken and ground by the teeth, but subsequently 

 becomes triturated within the insensible cuticular pouch of 

 the stomach, before it be suffered to come in contact with 

 the sensitive part, and thus, in a measure, is rendered 

 mechanically innocuous. However, it may and does happen 

 on occasions that, either from imperfect mastication or tritu- 

 ration, irritating substances gain admission into the vascular 

 compartment of the stomach, and there become likely to 



' ' Veterinarian,' vol. xiv, p. 767. To him desirous of pursuing this subject, I 

 recommend Morton's ' Toxicological Chart.' 



