PENETRATING INTO THE ABDOMEN. 
643 
whence it proceeded did not appear to be in the slightest degree 
exhausted. It was evident that it filled the opening of the abdo- 
minal cavity to a level with the wound, and furnished the conti- 
nued stream that was observed so long. There is no doubt that 
the circumflex artery and vein of the ilium were ruptured, since 
it is not possible to conceive that any small vessels could, in so short 
a time, have furnished the great quantity of blood which was shed, 
before, during, and after my visit. 
The animal staggered, and almost fell, when the least attempt 
was made to move him. 
The wound was very open, and, consequently, the air easily 
penetrated into the abdominal cavity. Its entry and emission 
were accompanied by a peculiar sound — a quivering whistle, 
like that caused by the air-hole of a pair of bellows. This effect 
was partly produced by the respiratory movements, and partly by 
the torn skin, which performed the office of an air-pipe. 
Although, after what I had seen, there was no doubt that the 
wound communicated with the abdominal cavity, still, to make 
myself certain what was the actual extent of the injury, I intro- 
duced my fore-finger into the opening. By doing this, I felt the 
undulatory movements of the intestines ; and found that the 
cavity of the abdomen was filled with a fluid to a level with the 
inferior edges of the wound ; that the most distant part of the 
abdominal walls was lacerated like the skin ; and that the prin- 
cipal direction of the wound was from without inwards, from be- 
fore backwards, and from above below. 
I saw no spouting of blood, nor any haemorrhagic point which 
could enable me to discover what vessels were wounded. 
My first care was to get as much fluid as possible out of the 
abdomen, by strongly compressing the parietes both on the right 
and left. I succeeded by these means in evacuating a tolerable 
quantity. Immediately afterwards 1 passed a suture between 
the opposite points, and to extremities of the thread were fixed 
two pledgets of tow. I then placed over the wound another very 
soft pledget, which I kept on by fastening it to the portions of 
thread which I had left above and below in forming the suture. 
All communication between the outward air and the abdominal 
cavity was thus entirely cut off. 
The horse was allowed nothing but a little gruel until the fol- 
lowing morning. Six injections of thin gruel were administered 
to him during the night. 
At eight o’clock on the morning of the following day the animal 
was extremely weak ; his head was always resting on the manger. 
He had not strength to stand upright, but leaned first on one 
side and then on the other, until he found something to rest 
