66 THE MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



men of inversion of the stomach in a dog. The 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 treat- 

 ment of the animal when under distempter. 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 annoyance 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 sup- 

 per, 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 oesophagus. At 

 first sight it seemed to be a tumor attached to the parietes oE 

 that tube, but on closer examination the oesophagus was evi- 

 dently dilated by some large soft body within it. He cut 

 into it, and drew from it the stomach, inverted, and its mucus 

 coat in the highest possible state of inflammation. The whole 

 of the villous tunic was charged with congested blood. The di- 

 latation 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 



