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Treatment must be prompt and energetic. An antacid should be given, 

 and, as these cases mostly occur on the road away, probably, from all 

 drug-stores, you should hasten to the first house. Get common baking 

 soda, and administer 2 to 4 ounces of it as quickly as possible. One- 

 half ounce of cayenne pepper may be added to this with advantage, as 

 it serves to aid the stomach to contract upon its contents, and expel the 

 gas. Charcoal, in any amount ; chloride of lime, one-half ounce ; carbon- 

 ate of ammonia, one-half ounce ; or any medicine that will check or stop 

 fermentation, or absorb the gases, may be given. A physic of 1 ounce 

 of aloes, or 1 pint of linseed oil should be given to unload the stomach 

 and bowels. Cold water, dashed with force over the stomach, is thought 

 by some to favor condensation of the gas. This lesson should be learned 

 from one of these attacks — and doubtless will be if, as is often the case, 

 the horse dies — that when a horse or any other animal is expected to 

 do an unusual amount of work in a short time he will best do it upon 

 a spare feed. Curb your generosity and humanity (?) for the brute un- 

 til the journey's end, and even then wait until the horse is thoroughly 

 rested before giving the usual feed. 



Rupture of the stomach. — This mostly occurs as a result of engorged 

 or tympanitic stomach, and from the horse violently throwing himself 

 when so affected. It may result from disease of the coats of the stom- 

 ach, gastritis, stones or calculi, tumors, or anything that closes the 

 opening of the stomach into the intestines, and very violent pulling or 

 jumping immediately after the animal has eaten heartily of bulky food. 

 These or similar causes may lead to this accident. 



The symptoms of rupture of the stomach are not constant, nor always 

 reliable. We should always make inquiry as to what and how much 

 the horse has been fed at the last meal. Vomiting has, pretty gen- 

 erally, been declared to be a symptom of rupture of this organ. I wish 

 to preface what I may say concerning this with the statement that 1 

 have observed vomiting when the post-mortem examination revealed 

 rupture; that I have found rupture of the stomach where vomiting 

 had not occurred; that I have witnessed vomiting where the horse soon 

 after made a rapid recovery, i. e., when the stomach was not ruptured. 

 In spite of this contradictory evidence, I am of the opinion that, taken 

 in connection with other symptoms, this sign is of value as pointing 

 toward rupture of the stomach. This accident has occurred in my 

 practice mostly in heavy draught horses. A prominent symptom ob- 

 served (though I have also seen it in diaphragmatic hernia) is where 

 the horse, if possible, gets the front feet on higher ground than the 

 hind ones, or sits on his haunches, like a dog. This position affords 

 relief to some extent, and it will be maintained for some minutes ; it is 

 also quickly regained when the horse has changed it for some other. 

 Colicky symptoms, of course, are present, and these will vary much, 

 and present no diagnostic value. As the case progresses " the horse 

 will often stretch forward the fore legs, lean backwards and down- 



