The Abdomen 157 



one of the tops reached the duodenum and caused the animal's 

 death, the other top being found free in the stomach at the 

 necropsy. Nichoux recorded an instance of a dog swallowing two 

 coins, which remained in the stomach for twelve years. On one 

 occasion I gave an emetic to a dog suffering from chronic gastric 

 trouble and freed the animal of a large flint stone, which the owner 

 averred had been swallowed six months previously. Sometimes 

 the pylorus becomes blocked. Greaves, in conducting a necropsy, 

 found a mass of small angular bones completely blocking the pass- 

 age, and Hulme and Morrison found a large piece of liver in one 

 animal, and a large tightly rolled ball of brown paper in another, 

 obstructing it in a similar way. 



Sharp bodies may perforate the wall. Most commonly needles 

 and skewers work their way into the abdominal cavity and lodge 

 in some other organ. Petit found a needle embedded in the liver, 

 and cites three other similar cases. He also found a needle em- 

 bedded in the spleen of another animal. Sometimes such bodies 

 ultimately reach the surface of the body, not, however, without 

 inducing the formation of an abscess or fistulous tract. Straub 

 incised an enlargement, occupying nearly the whole surface of the 

 left abdominal wall, and removed some gangrenous tissue in which 

 was lodged a small piece of wire. Viramond mentions the passage 

 of a skewer some seven inches in length, and its exit in the region 

 of the xiphoid cartilage. Labat found a skewer free in the peri- 

 toneal cavity, but without trace of perforation. Norrit treated a 

 dog which had swallowed a fork. The animal showed some slight 

 indisposition, but apparently recovered. Celiotomy was performed 

 and the pronged end was found free in the abdominal cavity and 

 the handle encapsulated at the origin of the mesocolon. Recovery 

 followed in three weeks. Hamoir incised an abscess in the right 

 postal region. A long hat pin was found present, the head of 

 which was buried within the peritoneal cavity, which rendered its 

 extraction impossible. Celiotomy was performed in the immediate 

 neighborhood, when the head was found to be within the stomach. 

 It was pulled out, and the wound in the stomach wall closed. Re- 

 covery ensued. Lignieres held a necropsy, at which a fine piece of 

 wire one and one half inches in length was discovered embedded 

 in the omentum. For some time before death the animal had ex- 

 hibited epileptiform convulsions. Lignieres thought the latter were 



