200 DADD’S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 
sound was elicited, showing that the stomach contained a large 
quantity of gas, and was over-distended. Her exwemities 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 suda, 
anJ the same quantity of fluid extract of ginger and golden scal 
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 scap-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. 
T now determined to send a trocar into the abdomen, for the 
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 thie 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 the 
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 
smull intestines were the seat of stricture in several places; their 
external surface, or, rather, peritoneal covering, was studded with 
albuminousand 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 were 
“ knocked down.” 
Most authors contend that when a borse is the subject of rupture 
of the stomach o* intestines, he squats on the haunches, like a dug: 
