318 GOEGtED STOMACH. — TYMPANY. 



The abdomen is hard and tense ; the respirations are short, 

 catching, and frequently gasping ; the pulse at the commence- 

 ment is seldom disturbed ; the skin speedily becomes bathed 

 with perspiration, which is sometimes cold, and at other times 

 hot and steaming. As the violence of the pain subsides, rum- 

 bling sounds will be heard to proceed from the abdomen, which 

 are occasionally relieved by an abundant emission of flatus. 



PATHOGiroMOirio SYMPTOMS. — Hxcessive or partial disten- 

 sion of the abdomen with gas, associated with excessive and long 

 continued violence of the patient. 



Causes. — G-reedy or voracious feeding horses are very prone 

 to suffer from Grorged Stomach. Tympany may also supervene 

 after a moderate sized, but hastily devoured feed, particularly 

 if the food be of a very solid character, such as a mass of split 

 beans, or a quantity of dry bean flour eaten immediately after 

 severe and long contiaued labour. 



Crib-biting horses are said to be more prone to Tympany 

 than others ; but this I am unable to verify from experience. 

 Wheat, if eaten in either its ripe or green condition, wiU cause 

 it, and iu all probability the death of the animal as well. Several 

 of the most severe attacks of Tympany I have ever observed 

 arose from the animals having partaken freely of green wheat. 

 Mr. Percival mentions that during " the march of the British 

 Ajmy from "Waterloo to Paris, iu 1815, a brigade of horses had 

 been allowed to feed in a field of growing wheat, and the con- 

 sequences were, that several of them became tympanitic in the 

 body, and became almost frantic with pain and died." Mr. Per- 

 cival and others who have written upon this form of disease 

 consider that the gas originates from a species of fermenta- 

 tion set up within the food ; but this I believe to be an 



