418 DEATH OF A HORSE FROM SWALLOWING A TOOTH. 
the tooth ; but, I repeat it — there was no inflammation, however 
slight, of the mucous membrane of this intestine. 
There was a slight discoloration of the membrane towards the 
end of the colon : it was of a slate colour, probably from having 
been brought into contact with the sulphuretted hydrogen gas. 
Must we, then, conclude that the death of the animal was to 
be attributed to the presence of the tooth in the caecum ? How- 
ever extraordinary such an opinion may at first appear to be, I 
am very much inclined to believe that it affords the best expli- 
cation of the affair. The horse had scarcely eaten for nearly 
fifteen days. This long fast had produced a comparatively empty 
state of the digestive canal, and an augmentation of its irri- 
tability up to the moment of the operation. The quietness of 
the horse, his appetite and apparent health during the two days 
which followed, proved evidently that it passed without obstacle 
through the first part of the intestinal canal ; but having arrived 
at the caecum, which was almost empty, and lying for a greater 
or less period on its mucous coat at the inferior portion of it, it 
produced considerable irritation by its hard and irregular angular 
surface ; and as the contractions of this intestine were not effec- 
tual to seize it, and cause it to return to the commencement of 
the colon, the prolongation of this irritation might suspend the 
digestive function of this viscus, augment its secretions, and 
produce the frequent continual effort to expel the fluid contents 
of the intestine. Hence also arose the gaseous distention, 
by means of the continuance of the body whose presence was 
the cause of so much mischief. As to the death of the animal, 
the tooth was only the indirect cause of this ; it was produced by 
the suffocation which the excessive distention of the bowels 
necessarily produced. 
Rec. de Med . Vet. 1836. 
iHtettUaneau 
A Whimsical Horse. 
There is a very fine horse in the possession of Sir Henry 
Meux, which is used as a dray-horse ; but he is so tractable, 
that he is left sometimes without any restraint to walk about 
the yard and return to the stable at his fancy. In the yard 
there are also a few pigs of a peculiar breed, which are fed on 
grains and corn ; and to these pigs the horse has evidently an 
insuperable objection, which is illustrated by the following fact : — 
