200 DAUD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE ANL» SURGERY. 



sound was elicited, siiowitic;; thvl the stomach contained a large 

 quantity of gas, and was over-distended. Her extremities wer« 

 cold, and other symptoms were present which indicate death. I 

 euspccted that the food was running into fermentation, and, in 

 v^iew of arresting it, I gave one ounce of the hyposulphite of f.oda, 

 an] the same quantity of fluid extract of ginger and golden seal 

 The body was bathed with new rum, and she was rubbed vigor- 

 ously, by three men, for about half an hour, from which treatment 

 she seemed to rally some. Several injections of salt and scap-suda 

 were thrown into the rectum. They brought away a slimy sub- 

 stance, but very little feces. Finally nothing came away but that 

 which was injected, and from this I was led to infer that, either 

 from pressure or stricture, the small intestines were closed. 



I now determined to send a trocar into the abdomen, for th'2 

 purpose of discovering what it contained, and, accordingly, selected 

 a point in the lower middle of the same. In withdrawing the cut- 

 ting instrument, a fluid commenced to run, which, in color and 

 consistence, resembled urine. For an hour and a quarter this fluid 

 continued to run through the tube, and the amount obtained must 

 have been over three bucketsful. I was in hopes that the with- 

 drawal of this large amount of fluid might remove the pressure 0)i 

 the intestinal tube, and thus the gas, which was pent up in th« 

 stomach, might find its way to the anal outlet. Not so, however ; 

 for, notwithstandmg all our efibrts and attention, the mare died, 

 at noon, with rupture of the stomach. 



The autopsy revealed a rent, or rupture, in the stomach, of about 

 eight inches in lengthy through which a portion of the food and 

 fluids of the stomach had escaped into the abdominal cavity. The 

 small intestines were the seat of stricture in several places; their 

 external surface, or, rather, peritoneal covering, was studded with 

 albuminous and fibrous deposits, resulting from abdominal dropsy; 

 otherwise, the contents of the chest and abdomen presented the 

 appearance of perfect health. I should judge that the watei had 

 been accumulating in the abdominal cavity for a Icng time. The 

 foreman at the stable observed that the animal always appeared 

 very portly, so much so that the, abdomen was square with the 

 hips, which had led some persons to suppose that her hips were 

 " knocked down." 



Most authors contend that when a horse is the subject of rupture 

 of the stomach o' intestines, he squats on the haunches, like a d.»g; 



