560 
CASES OF RUPTURE OF THE COLON. 
By Mr. W. Banister, Battle. 
On June 15th, I was requested to attend a mare that had been 
sent about five miles to take the horse, up to which time she ap- 
peared cheerful and in perfect health. Immediately after copula- 
tion she was taken with a fit of shivering, and shewed symptoms 
of great distress and pain. 
The parties thinking that something serious had happened, 
made every possible haste to get her to my stable, a distance of 
about four miles, which task was accomplished after very consi- 
derable difficulty. On my examination I found her trembling 
excessively, and drops of perspiration rolling from her in rapid 
succession. Almost immediately afterwards she was covered with 
a cold sweat. The extremities then felt deathy cold — the abdomen 
greatly distended — respiration very laborious — and the pulse 
scarcely perceptible : in short, every symptom of speedy dissolu- 
tion was present. 
I examined the rectum, which seemed perfectly right. On giving 
my opinion of the case from the symptoms presented, I pronounced 
it an acute case of peritonitis, produced by some injury, either 
from the weight or efforts of the horse in the above act ; and so it 
turned out, and proved to be. The treatment, of course, was una- 
vailable, for, after living about six hours in the most excruciating 
agony, she died. 
On post-mortem examination, I found a great part of the con- 
tents of the colon deposited in the cavity of the abdomen, which 
had escaped from a rupture of the intestine of about eight inches 
in length, the irritation of which produced immediate inflammation, 
and consequently death. It is unnecessary for me to say that the 
lungs, and every other organ, partook of the inflammatory action. 
In 1842, I was desired to examine a mare, the property of a 
gentleman in this neighbourhood, which came by her death under 
exactly similar circumstances. She presented nearly the same 
symptoms as the previous case, lived about three hours, and died 
from a rupture of the same intestine. 
