ABDOMINAL WOUND OF THE INTESTINE. 387 
lated to inspire any hope. Finding that under these mani- 
pulations the colt grew restive, 1 cast him on his right 
side, and neatly closed the wounds in the bowels with 
interrupted sutures of fine white silk, immediately upon 
which they became distended with gas, and in this con- 
dition all attempts to get them in their place proved 
futile. I then gathered up the ruptured portion of bowels 
with one hand, and with the other forced the gas back into the 
intestinal cavity from which it had escaped, and in this way 
succeeded in effecting my object. I then brought the lace- 
rated abdominal muscles — the w ound of which, I should have 
before said, wmuld admit the introduction of the hand* — into 
apposition, and secured them with metallic sutures, and did 
the same wdth the external w r ound. My patient w as then 
released from the hobbles, and w 7 ith some difficulty got up. 
He breathed rapidly, and appeared much exhausted. I gave 
him a pint of elderberry w ? ine as a diffusible stimulant, (this 
being at hand) and dissolved in it Aloes Barb. 3 iv. Ordered 
him to be clothed warmly ; to be allowed a little gruel, and 
left him for the night. 
21st. — He is better than could be expected. He drinks 
gruel freely ; pulse 90 ; breathing tranquil, and he has passed 
some hardened faeces. A thin, offensive discharge issues 
from wround. Apply fomentations constantly, and confine 
the diet to gruel. 
22d. — No indication of pain. Pulse 80; breathing quiet; 
colour of mucous membranes natural ; faeces pultaceous. 
A good deal of abdominal infiltration has taken place, the 
swelling extending to the fore legs. Dress the wound 
with digestive ointment, and continue fomentations. Give 
Pot. Nit. et Pulv. Gent. Rad. aa, ^ij, in ball, morning and 
night. 
23d.— Swelling somewhat diminished; discharge from 
wound more healthy ; pulse 74 ; bowels regular. As he 
appears hungry, allow a little bran mash. Continue medi- 
cine and treatment as before. 
From this date, under the same treatment, the animal 
improved daily up to the 6th, when the medicine was dis- 
continued, and, in addition to gruel and bran mashes, he was 
allowed a few crushed oats. The sutures were now removed. 
In a fortnight he w r as returned to his usual food, though 
in lesser quantities. At the end of three weeks he appeared 
to require no further professional attention. 
I may mention, en passant , that in 1843, I was called to a 
case of ventral hernia in a colt twelve months old, in w 7 hich it 
