Diseases of the Stomach. 69 



patient was three or four years old. He had for several 

 months been subject to occasional vomiting, but this had 

 of late become more frequent. He (Mr. Ainslie) attributed 

 it to the treatment of the animal when under distemper 

 The disease had assumed its severest form, and large doses 

 of calomel had been administered. From that time he had 

 had fits of vomiting, sometimes without any evident cause, 

 and generally after a hearty meal, and always if he took 

 exercise after a meal. There was also, to the great annoy- 

 ance of the owner, a continual discharge of viscid saliva 

 from the corners of the mouth, and more or less blood 

 accompanied every act of vomiting. The owner did not 

 seem to suspect the real origin of this nuisance. 



" On the first of the month he appeared to be as well as 

 usual. In the evening he cleanly picked a bone for his 

 supper, and after that came a fit of vomiting. He lay 

 quiet during the night, and in the morning began to vomit 

 mucus mixed with blood. This continued during the day ; 

 the dog rapidly lost strength, and died in the evening. The 

 blood retained its fluid state, mixed with mucus and saliva. 

 When, on the following morning, he opened the dog, and 

 began to feel for the stomach, no viscus of that kind was to 

 be found in the abdomen. He then opened the thorax, 

 and there he perceived a considerable enlargement of the 

 CEsophagus. At first sight it seemed to be a tumour 

 attached to the parietes of that tube, but on closer exami- 

 nation the oesophagus was evidently dilated by some large 

 soft body within it. He cut into it, and drew from it the 

 stomach, inverted, and its mucous coat in the highest 

 possible state of inflammation. The whole of the villous 

 tunic was charged with congested blood. The dilatation of 

 the oesophagus commenced even from the pharynx, and had 

 probably existed for a considerable time. The food, or 

 some portion of it, probably remained in this dilated por- 

 tion of the oesophagus, and slowly passed into the stomach, 

 and that might account for the frequent vomitings an hour 



