PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 
431 
Having to go a considerable distance into the country, I left my 
patient about eleven o’clock, and did not return until five hours 
afterwards. 
Four o'clock , P.M. — During the time I have been away, he has 
urinated twice very freely, but in every other respect he is much 
the same. He perspires more ; he wanders round and round the 
box as usual ; crouches ; then appears as though he was suddenly 
relieved from his pain ; he stands perfectly still ; hangs the head 
down, or rests upon the manger ; and closes the eyes as though in 
a kind of stupor. If forced away from the place, he walks firmly, 
but bears his head near to the ground : when brought again into the 
box, he leans himself against the wall, and again doses, and if he 
wakens up, it is only to commence anew walking round the box. 
Pulse 84, and feeble, and respiration 32 per minute. The limbs 
are very cold, and they have a fine glossy appearance. Repeat 
medicine, and give an enema of tobacco smoke ; after which the 
abdomen was again fomented, and the animal was back-raked. 
Ten o'clock , P.M. — Still the same, or, if anything, worse ; stupor 
more intense, and the breathing is more laborious ; pulse 90, and 
respirations 36. Left him for the night, with directions for some 
one to attend upon him during the night. 
13 th, Seven o'clock , A.M. — On arriving at the stable I found my 
patient dead : he had died about six o’clock, in a very quiet man- 
ner. 
Examination three Hours after Death — Digestive Organs , Sjc. : 
The mouth and its contents were healthy On opening the abdo- 
men, a quantity of loose fluid was at once perceived in its cavity; 
the quantity could not, 1 think, be less than six or eight quarts. 
The peritoneum was very healthy in appearance, being of the 
glistening grey colour so characteristic of healthy peritoneum. On 
removing the intestines, we came upon a large quantity of food in 
a half digested state , it lay principally in the left hand corner of 
the cavity, and in close contiguity with the diaphragm and the 
liver : it consisted of split beans, chaff, bran, and ground oats, and, 
what is worthy of remark, the fluid in the cavity, which was of a 
pale yellow colour, contained little or no admixture of the loose 
solid food : both appeared to have remained distinct and apart. The 
intestines were all moderately full, with the exception of the rec- 
tum, which was empty. The stomach was ruptured the whole 
length of its great curvature ; and its mucous membrane along the 
edges of the rent was highly injected. The peritoneal coat of the 
organ and its muscular coat were parallel in the direction of their 
rents ; but from the greater elasticity of the former, it had shrunk 
about an inch and a half from the latter. The colour of the liver 
outwardly was pale, but, on cutting into its substance, I found it 
