54 
RUPTURE OF THE STOMACH IN A HORSE. 
organ, but which had ultimately escaped through an irregularly 
shaped opening in the mucous coat. The peritoneal and muscu- 
lar coats having become ruptured in some way or other, the edges 
had receded from each other to the distance of five inches and a 
half at one part, and tapering gradually on each side for seven 
inches, making (in these two coats) an elliptical rent eighteen 
inches in length, with serrated edges, resembling very much the 
sagittal suture, and leaving entire the mucous coat, beforemen- 
tioned, with the exception of the opening, which would have ad- 
mitted a man’s thumb. 
It is worthy of remark, that this perforation or hole does not 
appear (for I have still the preparation) to have been formed at 
the same time that the rupture had taken place in the other two 
coats. The form of the opening forbids any such conclusion: it 
appears to me to have been caused by the attrition of the food 
against it. 
The peritoneum covering the parietes of the abdomen, and re- 
flected on the intestines, were both inflamed, no doubt from the 
irritation produced by the contents of the stomach in the abdo- 
minal cavity. 
The thoracic and other viscera seemed perfectly healthy. 
On a careful perusal of this case, several important questions 
naturally suggest themselves. Reasoning on mechanical prin- 
ciples, is it possible that such a degree of force could be so nicely 
adapted as to produce rupture in the peritoneal and muscular 
coats, and leave entire one, which has become so attenuated as to 
resemble the finest paper ? Would the folds, apparent on its 
inner surface, assist in preserving that membrane ? — or may it not 
be ascribed to that vital principle exhibited in the ulcerative pro- 
cess, which, w'hile it involves and destroys the surrounding tex- 
tures, leaves entire, and in some instances completely isolates, the 
vascular and nervous systems? Is it likely that his first illness 
(lasting from the 20th October until the 28th) was in conse- 
quence of the rupture of the two outer coats ; and that his second 
and fatal attack on the 31st October, when the symptoms were 
so alarming from the first moment he was observed, might have 
been in consequence of the inner membrane becoming perforated? 
If such a view of the case is taken, it will probably assist in 
enabling us to arrive at the conclusion, whether or not a horse 
can vomit with his stomach ruptured. 
