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FRACTURE OF THE HUMERUS. 
First.— A gelding, twenty years old, healthy, fed with oats 
and hay. The stomach contained a large quantity of food ; 
the gases of the small intestines were collected from com- 
paratively empty portions ; the caecum was in a great part 
filled with the remains of food ; the gases of the rectum were 
from between the faecal balls. 
Second . — An old mare, healthy, fed with oats. The stomach 
and caecum were almost filled with solid masses. The rectum 
contained so small a portion of gas that no sufficient quantity 
for an analysis could be collected. The following are the 
names of the gases found in the various parts of the intes- 
tinal canal: Carbonic acid, carburetted hydrogen, sulphu- 
retted hydrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, ammonia, and nitrogen. 
The coincidence of the large proportion of carbonic acid in 
the stomach and caecum of both horses is remarkable, a cir- 
cumstance probably connected with the functions which both 
organs have to fulfil in the digestive process. The presence 
of sulphuretted hydrogen in the gases of all parts of the 
intestinal canal leads Valentin to conclude that the formation 
of this gas commences in the stomach. He considers the 
albuminous substances of the food to be the source of this 
formation, and draws the inference, that in the stomach not 
only a mere solution of some of the substances containing 
nitrogen and sulphur takes place, but that there is also a 
partial decomposition. It must, however, as yet remain 
uncertain how much of the sulphuretted hydrogen found in 
the stomach is due to a development of this gas in the 
stomach itself, and how much may have been introduced 
from lower parts by the diffusion of gases. Ammonia, it 
will be seen, on the other hand, is met with only in the large 
intestines. The proportion of hydrogen found by Valentin 
is smaller (except in the rectum) than that stated by former 
observers. He agrees, however, with them concerning the 
total absence of oxygen in the gases of the large intestines. 
The larger quantities of carburetted hydrogen and hydrogen 
in the rectum show that changes in the remains of food 
continue taking place up to the last portions of the digestive 
tube. 
52, Park Street , Grosvenor Square. 
FRACTURE OF THE HUMERUS. 
By F. J. Sewell, M.R.C.V.S., Pimlico. 
The subject of this case was a bay carriage-horse, four 
years old. Early in the morning of Oct. 21, 1854, the groom 
