CASE OF DISEASED KIDNEY AND RUPTURED STOMACH. 603 
symptoms increased tenfold in severity : pulse quite impercep- 
tible ; tongue furred ; mouth full of frothy mucus ; eyes dull ; 
pupils dilated. When standing, he crouches as before ; groans pi- 
teously and loud, when voiding small quantities of urine. I exa- 
mined the perineum and penis, but could not detect any calculi. I 
then passed my hand up the rectum, and found the faeces pulta- 
ceous ; no heat of bladder, and quite empty. I could readily pass 
my hand into the colon, which I did to ascertain if a portion of it 
was forced into the rectum, and thereby entangled; but such was not 
the case. I was satisfied there was not only an affection of the 
kidneys, but a bowel disease likewise, either from entanglement, 
introsusception, or a rupture of some of the abdominal viscera, 
from the excessive groaning, straining, and heaving of the animal 
when down : he lay on his side, stretched out his hind legs, and 
strained more violently than any mare I ever saw in acute labour 
pains, and the same muscles were called into action. It being quite 
a hopeless case, the suffering animal was destroyed at 9 P.M. 
A post-mortem examination was made next day. The stomach was 
ruptured, and its contents had escaped into the cavity of the abdo- 
men ; patches of inflammation on the colon ; small intestines, and 
caecum healthy ; the right kidney gangrenous, and contained 
several minute calculi ; the left kidney slightly inflamed ; other 
viscera healthy. 
I inquired of the attendant whether the horse ever appeared 
uneasy when in the stable : he said he was often “ shuffling about 
with his hind legs,” but that he attributed to lameness of the 
fetlock joints, for which I had fired him two years since. No 
doubt the restlessness was from pain in the loins. The impression 
on my mind is, that the subacute pain in the kidney became sud- 
denly acute, and the animal, in violently attempting to void the 
offending matter lodged in the ducts of the kidney, burst the sto- 
mach, that viscus being distended with half-digested food. Had it 
not been engorged, the probability is that it would not have given 
way, and the animal might have existed some time longer, al- 
though the disease of the kidney had been of long duration ; but 
he had not experienced much inconvenience from it, as he was in 
good condition. The enlarged and thickened bursae of the flexor 
tendons contained a considerable quantity of black thick matter 
which communicated with the tendons. He was lame when going 
down hill in the shafts. 
Oct. 13, 1848. 
*** On perusing your excellent description of lameness in 
horses, I find you take a very correct view of ring-bone, in 
stating that lameness seldom precedes the appearance of the ossific 
