200 LAUD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



sound was elicited, showing that the stomach contained a laige 

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

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

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

 view of arresting it, I gave one ounce of the hyposulphite of soda, 

 an. I 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 soap-suds 

 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<e 

 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 on 

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

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

 for, notwithstanding all our efforts 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 length, 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 water had 

 been accumulating in the abdominal cavity for a long 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 wore 

 " knocked down." 



Most authors contend that when a horse is the subject of rupt.ire 

 of the stomach or intestines, he squats on the haunches, like a d«»g; 



