RUPTURED STOMACH. 
72 
colour and of a sour smell. All the other symptoms were 
those of enteritis in a most violent form. In this state she con- 
tinued for six or seven hours, when death put an end to her 
sufferings. Upon inspection, a large rupture was found to have 
taken place in the stomach, and part of its contents was found 
floating loosely in the abdomen. 
The other case was that of a foal somewhere about six months 
old, which had only been from its mother a short time. When 
parted from its dam, it was placed in a pasture of strong after- 
math, along with another young horse, and there left to provide 
for itself. In this situation it remained about a fortnight, when 
one day it was perceived to be unwell. It had been subject to 
a large scrotal hernia, but this had gradually subsided as the 
colt grew up. Being called in to attend, I soon made my 
appearance, and, from the knowledge I had of the animal, quite 
expected to find a case of strangulated hernia. Not so, how- 
ever. The symptoms and appearance of the animal were of a 
quite different nature to those I expected to find, so that it was 
not without great hesitation that T could be prevailed upon to 
give an opinion. 
The Symptoms . — The most prominent were : — He stood in 
an almost immoveable position, perspiring very much ; eye dull 
and languid ; body rather swollen ; ears and legs cold, deathy 
cold ; pulse much accelerated and weak ; increased respiration ; 
anxious look ; no evacuation per anum. Upon a careful exa- 
mination, I could not detect any thing to convince me it was 
a case of strangulated hernia ; nor could I give a decided opi- 
nion upon the case. In short, to give the particulars of the 
case would be of no avail. I shall merely state that he was 
bled, and had febrifuge medicine given, under the faint idea that 
the lungs were implicated in the disease — but which did not 
in the least mitigate his sufferings — so that death speedily 
closed the scene. On making my post mortem examination 
shortly after death, the stomach was found to be largely rup- 
tured in its lower half, and crammed full of hard, dry, and, I 
might say, almost indigestible, substances. Now, from the 
dissimilarity of the symptoms attending these two cases, by 
what signs are we to be guided, so that in giving an opinion 
it may stand the test of an examination ? I am aware there 
is one symptom in particular said to attend the rupture of that 
viscus, i. e , the spasmodic action of the muscles of the tail. 
For my own part, however, in the first case I could not detect 
it ; and, in the second, my observations did not warrant me to 
look out for it. 
