INTKSTINAL TYMPANITIS. 
319 
and to introduce some hydrocyanic acid through the canula into 
the intestine. During the night the mare was tolerably quiet; 
now and then she appeared to suffer some pain, but it was of 
short duration, and never very intense. The clysters were often 
retained for a long while, and, when evacuated, some air escaped 
with them : the belly was noisy during the paroxysms of pain. 
Prior to the operation, no*borborygmus existed. The pulse re- 
mained quick, and rather small, but it was not wiry ; the mem- 
branes of the eye and nose were of a dark red colour. The mare 
would not lie a minute on the right side, either before or after the 
operation. The temperature of the surface frequently sunk, and 
the muscles quivered precisely as they do at the commencement 
of a shivering fit. Rigor, in cases of this kind, and in all others 
attended with much exhaustion, ought to be arrested as speedily 
as possible. I conceive that fever and inflammation frequently 
arise from this cause alone : hence, I was anxious, in this mare, 
to maintain the heat of the body, and did so by friction and 
the application of heated bars of iron. 
About nine o’clock on the morning of the second day the mare 
was again back-raked, and a little dung was found in the rectum : 
soon afterwards the bowels were freely opened. That which 
came away was mixed with hard, unbroken beans. During all 
this day she did not shew any symptom of pain : she had a little 
walking exercise, drank a good deal, managed to swallow some 
bran mash, and attempted to eat hay, but was deterred, apparent- 
ly by the soreness of her mouth and throat. On the third day 
she had a mild cathartic, and was dismissed to her own stable. 
For several days she was very weak, dull, and without appetite ; 
but, by coaxing her with bread, carrots, grass, potatoes, &c. she 
gradually recovered. She is still rather weak, easily fatigued, 
and dry in the hair; but is kept from work only in consequence of 
a sore on the haunch, produced by rolling and falling. 
The above is, I believe, the first case of intestinal paracentesis 
performed in this country. On the continent it has been tried 
several times. The last vol. of the The Veterinarian con- 
tains an account, translated from the Rec. de Med. Vet., of two 
horses that were saved by punction after all other means had 
failed. The editors of The Veterinarian have rendered us 
most essential service in making us acquainted with many valu- 
able points in the practice of the French practitioners ; but I 
think we do not, in general, pay sufficient attention to their sug- 
gestions. An operation performed in France is not exactly the 
same to us as an operation performed in our own country. We are 
almost as loath to try it as if the precedent were of doubtful 
authority, or too far-fetched to be worthy of imitation. This is 
