420 DISEASES OF DIGESTION. 



ing, the jjatient becomes very weak, trembles and staggers, and 

 sometimes is seized with violent fits of coughing. In some cases 

 the act of vomition is not completed, but stops at a flow of saliva 

 from the mouth, nausea, and belching " (Friedberger and Frohner). 

 Colonel Fred Smith states that, as a iTile, when a horse vomits, 

 the rejected food and fluids dribble from the nostrils, and are 

 seldom violently discharged. 



RELATIONS OF VOMITING AND RUPTURE OF THE 

 STOxMACH, — Although vomiting occurs so frequently in cases of 

 rupture of the stomach, that the former might be accepted as a 

 well-marked symptom of the latter ; no necessary connection exists 

 between the two. In fact, vomiting cannot be a consequence of 

 complete rupture of the part; for the contents of the distended 

 stomach would have, through the rent in that organ, a far readier 

 way of escape, than through the usually closed passage from the 

 stomach into the gullet. Besides, there have been recorded numer- 

 ous cases of rupture without vomiting, and of vomiting without rup- 

 ture. Bearing these considerations in mind, it seems reasonable 

 to conclude that when vomiting occurs, it does so before rupture 

 of the stomach takes place, or before such rupture becomes com- 

 plete. Anyhow, we may accept the fact that vomition in the 

 horse seldom, if ever, takes place unless the stomach is distended 

 nigh unto bursting. The manner in which the contents of the 

 stomach, in the act of vomiting, overcome the resistance offered 

 by the narrow passage from the stomach to the gullet, has not 

 yet been satisfactorily explained. 



Cadeac remarks that vomiting without coUapsus (more or less 

 sudden failure of the vital powers) is generally an indication of a 

 speedy recovery. 



TREATMENT is of little or no use in cases of rupture of the 

 stomach, or of vomition. 



Twists and Folds of the intestines. 



Apart from the various kinds of hernise, the intestines are liable 

 to constriction (drawing together) by alteration of position, chiefly, 

 in the two following ways : — 



1. By twist {volvulus). When this accident takes ]jlace, it 

 almost always affects the large intestine, in which case there are 

 continuous colicky pains of gradually increasing severity with 

 fUitulent distension of the belly, and constipation after the part 

 of the bowel behind the accumulated gas has cleared itself out; 

 sujjposing that the twist is complete. In this case the rejected 



