324 
CASE OF A HORSE SWALLOWING SPONGE. 
vious to my seeing him, swallowed a large piece of moistened new 
sponge which lay in the stable. Not having any practical know- 
ledge of the result of such an affair, I was induced, in some measure, 
to fall in with the prevailing opinion of the great improbability of 
such a substance being either expelled undigested, or capable of 
digestion. However, I gave him immediately an ounce of Barba- 
does aloes, with a drachm of calomel. I also ordered him to be 
kept from both food and water during the night; for I reasoned that, 
from the great power of capillary attraction which the sponge pos- 
sessed, it would probably absorb a sufficient quantity of the juices 
of the stomach to fill all its pores, and the water, by diluting the 
gastric juice, might lessen its solvent power. 
On the following morning he seemed to be free from pain or 
fever, and I ordered a few carrots to be placed before him. These, 
however, he refused. 
On the 16th he continued apparently easy and without any in- 
dication of pain, and I allowed him a small portion of wetted hay, 
but no water. The physic had not produced any effect, probably 
because I had interdicted the use of water. In the evening he 
began to be very uneasy, and was frequently pawing and looking 
round at his flanks. I repeated the medicine. In the course of 
the night his restlessness increased to a very alarming degree, and 
he was evidently suffering intensely. This, however, subsided be- 
fore the morning. 
On the 17th he seemed to be tolerably comfortable, and I allowed 
him about three pints of warm water. In the evening the physic be- 
gan to produce the desired effect, and he voided a moderate portion of 
digested fseces, but somewhat harder than of its natural consistence. 
18th and 19th. — His bowels gradually assumed their natural 
action, but there was not any purging, properly speaking, nor any 
thing to indicate that he had taken so much aloetic medicine. 
He was allowed small quantities of water and wetted bran. 
On the 22d he remained free from pain, but, the bowels continu- 
ing somewhat costive, I gave a third dose of medicine, which, on 
the following day, mildly but sufficiently operated, and convinced me 
that no obstruction remained. The patient was therefore dismissed. 
No portions of the sponge could be detected in any of the evacu- 
ated matter, but the whole of it must have been dissolved, or, in 
other words, completely digested. Believing it to be the general 
opinion that sponge is rarely or never digested, I have been in- 
duced to send you the particulars of this case. The horse, ^per- 
haps, is less liable than many other animals to be injured by swal- 
lowing such a substance, on account of the intestines having in him 
so great a share in the digestive process. In most other animals 
it is nearly completed in the stomach. I attribute our patient’s 
