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OBSTRUCTION OF THE PYLORIC ORIFICE OF THE 
STOMACH OF A HORSE BY BOTS. 
By Mr. Samuel Goodworth, Great Driffield . 
A horse appeared to be ill, exhibiting all the symptoms of 
gripes. The person to whom he belonged was a poor man, who at- 
tributed his illness to his having eaten some sour grass on the night 
before, being out on a journey with him. He perceived him to 
sweat a great deal more than he was accustomed to do in his 
work, and thought that he should not have been able to get him 
home. He at last got him to his own residence. A surgeon 
living a few doors from him, the horse was taken there and bled, 
and a cordial ball was given to him : very soon afterwards he 
died. The surgeon came, and begged to have my assistance in 
the post-mortem examination : he said the horse had died very 
suddenly, and that he felt a great desire to know the cause of 
death. I questioned him as to his opinion of the disease ; and 
he said that he took it to be a common case of gripes, for the 
horse perspired a great deal, and laid himself down and rolled on 
his back. They got him up, and endeavoured to walk him 
about, but he was soon down again, and lay tumbling until he 
died. 
Post-mortem examination . — On opening the abdomen, the 
first thing that we perceived was a ruptured diaphragm and a 
dreadfully distended stomach. We had at once sufficient 
cause of death. All the other viscera were apparently healthy. 
I made an incision into the stomach, to try whether I could 
find the cause of distention. In examining the pyloric orifice, 
I found it obstructed by a cluster of bots ; so much so that it 
was impossible for the food to pass into the intestines. The bots, 
then, had caused the obstruction, and the obstruction the disten- 
tion ; and the horse being compelled to work in that state, the 
diaphragm had been ruptured by the pressure of the full stomach, 
and death had followed. 
If you think this, to me, novel case, worth a place in our 
valuable journal The Veterinarian, you will oblige me by 
inserting it ; for I feel much interest in its prosperity, as con- 
nected with the improvement of the veterinary art. 
