RUPTURE OF THE STOMACH. 
213 
dominal cavity, and which had escaped from the stomach 
through a rupture in its coat near the cardiac orifice. The 
rent was from three to four inches in length. The walls also 
of the stomach were very much thinned, especially at the 
part where the rupture had taken place. On examining the 
duodenum I discovered, at a short distance from the pylorus, 
a perforation through its coats, about the size of a sixpence, 
evidently the result also of ulceration. There were several 
other ulcers, in the immediate vicinity of this one, partially 
extending through the intestine. Many dark-coloured spots 
in different parts of the small intestines were likewise met 
with. The liver was of a yellow colour in some places, and 
the gall-bladder was filled with a dark-coloured bile. All 
the other viscera of the abdomen were perfectly healthy; 
the lungs also were normal, but the right ventricle of the 
heart was dilated to three times its proper size, and its walls 
were very thin. 
I have sent you the uterus and stomach, and also a portion 
of the duodenum, and I shall feel much obliged if you will 
favour me with your opinion on the subject, as I deem it a 
matter of some importance to ascertain whether the amount 
of calomel given would be likely to occasion such extensive 
lesions in the time specified. 
I have no doubt that the disease of the uterus was the pri- 
mary affection under which the animal laboured, and which 
called forth the treatment by the owner ; and that the rup- 
ture of the stomach was the immediate cause of death. 
[The ulcerations of the intestine, in this case, had every 
appearance of being produced by some local agent, and we 
think it more than probable that the large dose of calomel 
was their proximate cause, this agent having been adminis- 
tered to an animal whose system had already given w 7 ay 
under the debilitating effects of chronic uterine disease. We 
have often had occasion to condemn the exhibition of calomel 
to the dog in the large doses it is frequently used. The 
cause of the rupture of the stomach w 7 as not very apparent, 
and its coats, although attenuated, gave no indications of 
being affected with ulceration or softening.] 
XXIX. 
28 
