FUNCTION IN TYMPANITIS. 
443 
tines where the large ones ought to have been. They were all in- 
tensely inflamed; and, except one convolution, all full of air. I could 
not find all the punctured places. One had entered the flaccid bowel, 
and it was that which had yielded the gas. The punctures, all 
that I found, were quite impervious. By compressing the bowel, 
I could not force any gas through the perforations till I put in a 
probe, which shewed that the marks I took for punctures really 
were such. I used a small hydrocele trochar. 
From this case it appears that punction is not likely to do any 
harm ; and that, when the small intestines are the seat of tympany, 
punction is not likely to do any good. When much inflated, the 
small intestines change their relative position, and the gaseous 
pressure is such as to prevent an easy passage from one convolu- 
tion to another. It is thus that the trochar empties only one con- 
volution, and one convolution holds so little that its evacuation can 
produce no relief. 
Case III. 
May 23, 1837. — A draught mare, from the country, became very 
ill when in town. The belly was swelled all round. She got 
three strong colic drenches all within forty minutes; she was back- 
raked, clystered, and bled. She continued as ill, worse she could 
not become, and was punctured in four different places, but no 
gas came away, or any thing but a few drops of water nearly limpid. 
She got another drench and clyster, after which the pain abated. 
In another hour she was free from pain, and the belly fell rapidly. 
She was four hours ill altogether. She went home on the third day, 
and I heard no more about her until five months after, when I was 
told that she was then in town, quite well, and had been so ever 
since I had seen her. This case, I think, confirms the two inferences 
drawn from the last. 
Case IV. 
Dec. 24, 1837. — A draught horse was attacked by colic for the 
third time since February 1836. He was first observed at half 
past ten. I saw him at half past eleven. 
Symptoms . — Evident abdominal pain; belly swelled all round; 
it measured seven feet in circumference ; in another hour it mea- 
sured eight feet; eructations frequent, or rather constant; pulse 
about sixty; no passage per anum; staled once; was easier after 
four draughts; quieter but not easier alter bleeding; pain some- 
times abated. Pulse at third hour, hard, but still at 60; eye and 
mouth red. At fourth hour, mouth and eye pale ; mouth cold ; 
pulse 90, imperceptible at the jaw; skin wet with perspiration; 
shrunk from pressure on the belly ; no shivering ; stood, but appa- 
